Intermediate+ Word of the Day: beat

beat (verb, noun, adjective) /bit/

Beat the eggs with the sugar.

Most commonly, to beat means ‘to strike something or someone repeatedly,’ ‘to smash against,’ and ‘to shape by hitting.’ However, beat also means ‘to stir ingredients vigorously,’ ‘to keep time by strokes,’ ‘to defeat something or someone,’ and, informally, ‘to be better than something or someone.’ Informally, it means ‘to confuse’ and ‘to avoid blame.’ As a noun, a beat is a stroke or blow and the sound it makes, the major rhythm in a music piece, and a throbbing or pulsing. As an adjective, beat is used informally to mean ‘exhausted.’

Example sentences

• The thieves beat the old man mercilessly.
• The waves beat against the rocks.
• The jeweler beat the silver into a curved shape.
• Beat all the ingredients together until you have a smooth batter.
• I had a great time on vacation. Swimming in the sea sure beats being at work.
• It beats me how Jack got the job; he clearly doesn't know what he's doing.
• Fiona was nervous and could feel the rapid beat of her heart.
• Adam had been working for twelve hours and he was completely beat.

Words often used with beat

beat it: go away. Example: “The bartender told the drunk to beat it.”

beat up: injure someone by beating. Example: “The bullies beat Paul up and stole his lunch money.”

beat down: subdue, suppress. Example: “Deborah was terrified of flying, but determined to visit her daughter in Australia, so she beat down her fear and got on the plane anyway.”

beat off: literally, and always used with an object, this means ‘to chase or beat someone or something away from you.’ Example: “We managed to beat off our attackers and get away.” However, without an object, it has a vulgar meaning: ‘to masturbate.’

beat the rap: be found not guilty of a criminal charge. Example: “Everyone knew Simon did it, but he hired an expensive lawyer and managed to beat the rap.”

In pop culture

Listen to The Whispers singing “And the Beat Goes On”. Can you feel that beat?

Did you know?

The Beat Generation is the generation that came to maturity in the 1950s and was particularly marked by a rejection of Western values and political systems. More specifically, this name was given to a group of writers, most of whose work was published during the 1950s, and who rejected standard narrative values and explored themes of spirituality and also experimented with sex and drugs. Perhaps the most famous work from the Beat Generation was Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel On The Road. It was Kerouac who popularized the term ‘Beat Generation.’ It seems to have had various meanings, starting with the idea that the generation was beaten down and tired out by the conventions and systems of the time, but Kerouac wanted it to mean ‘upbeat,’ which is another way of saying happy and positive, ‘beatific,’ which means ‘displaying great happiness and calmness,’ and also to be associated with the idea of the musical beat.

Other forms

heartbeat (noun), deadbeat (noun), dead-beat (adjective)

Origin

Beat dates back to before the year 900. The Old English verb bēatan (later the Middle English beten) meant ‘to inflict blows on or thrash someone.’ It comes from the Proto-Germanic verb bautan, and before then, from the Proto-Indo-European root bhau (to strike). It is related to the Old Norse bauta, the Middle Low German bōten, the Old High German bōzzan, all meaning ‘to beat,’ and the Middle Irish búalaim (I hit), as well as the English word batter. It is also loosely related to the Latin word fūstis, which means ‘stick.’ It has been used to refer to the sound heard when the heart is pumping, as in the figurative sense, it was thought to be hitting the chest. The meaning ‘to overcome someone in a contest’ dates back to the early 17th century, while the meaning ‘to legally escape, avoid blame’ originated in American slang in the 1920s. The noun comes from the verb, and was first used to mean ‘a beating’ as well as ‘the beating of a drum’ around the year 1300. The musical sense only dates back to the mid-19th century, and alludes to the conductor moving the baton to keep time. Before that, beat had a different meaning in music: ‘a grace note, meant to ornament,’ always half a note beneath the main note, so they sounded almost as one if you didn’t listen closely. The adjective comes from the verb as well and, meaning ‘defeated or overcome by effort,’ dates back to the early 15th century. The figurative meaning (tired or exhausted) is an extension of the former, and first appeared in the early 20th century in the US.