beat down
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (transitive):
- To persuade a seller to lower a price through negotiation or pressure.
- To dislodge or force something down from a position.
Verb (intransitive):
- (Of the sun) To shine with intense, direct, and oppressive heat.
Usage and Examples
Verb (transitive - negotiating price):
- I managed to beat down the asking price by two hundred dollars.
- He is good at beating down car dealers.
Verb (transitive - dislodging):
- The strong winds beat down the young corn plants.
- The firefighter beat down the flames with a blanket.
Verb (intransitive - sun shining):
- The sun beat down relentlessly on the desert travelers.
- With no clouds in the sky, the heat just beat down on us all afternoon.
Advanced Usage
- "to beat someone down": To subdue or demoralize someone through criticism, hardship, or force.
- The constant rejections began to beat her down emotionally.
- The oppressive regime sought to beat down any dissent.
Variants and Related Words
- Beat (verb): To strike repeatedly.
- Downtrodden (adjective): Oppressed or treated badly by people in power. (Related conceptually to the "subdue" sense of "beat down").
Synonyms
- Haggle: To negotiate, especially over a price.
- Batter: To hit repeatedly and violently.
- Blaze: To shine brightly or fiercely (for the sun).
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Beat out: To extinguish (e.g., flames) by beating.
- They tried to beat out the grass fire.
- Beat off: To repel or drive back an attack.
- The defenders beat off the assault.
Related Idioms
- Beat the heat: To find a way to stay cool in hot weather.
- We went swimming to beat the heat.
- Beat a path to someone's door: To visit someone in great numbers.
- Customers beat a path to his door when the sale was announced.
Verb
- dislodge from a position
- She beat the dealer down to a much better price
- shine hard
- The sun beat down on the hikers
- persuade the seller to accept a lower price
- She beat the merchant down $100