beat
/bi:t/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb:
- To hit repeatedly and forcefully.
- To defeat or do better than someone in a competition or conflict.
- To mix ingredients vigorously by stirring or striking rapidly.
- To move rhythmically, often referring to the heart or a pulse.
- To make a regular sound by striking, like a drum.
- To shape metal by striking it repeatedly.
- To avoid or evade something, often a payment or obligation.
- To be superior or more enjoyable than something else.
- To move (wings) up and down.
Noun:
- A regular, rhythmic stroke, sound, or unit of time in music.
- The regular pulsation of the heart or arteries.
- A specific area or route regularly patrolled, especially by a police officer.
- A stroke or blow.
- The basic rhythmic unit in a line of poetry.
Adjective:
- Extremely tired or exhausted.
Usage
- Verb (to hit): Use when describing striking something multiple times.
- Verb (to defeat): Use in competitive contexts.
- Verb (to mix): Use in cooking contexts.
- Verb (to pulsate): Use for biological or rhythmic motion.
- Noun (rhythm): Use in music or poetry.
- Noun (area): Use for a designated patrol route.
- Adjective (tired): Use informally to describe exhaustion.
Examples
- Verb:
- The rain beat against the windowpane all night.
- She managed to beat the previous world record.
- Beat the cream until it forms soft peaks.
- Why does my head beat like this when I have a headache?
- The blacksmith beat the hot iron into shape.
- He tried to beat the traffic by leaving early.
- A good book beats watching television any day.
- The bird beat its wings frantically to escape.
- Noun:
- The drummer kept a perfect beat.
- I could feel the beat of his heart when I hugged him.
- The police car slowly drove around the neighborhood beat.
- The signal was three beats on the metal pipe.
- The poem follows a strict iambic beat.
- Adjective:
- I'm beat; I need to go to bed.
- They were beat after the long hike.
Advanced Usage
- "to beat around the bush": To avoid talking about something directly or to delay coming to the main point.
- Stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened.
- "to beat a retreat": To withdraw or run away, especially from a difficult situation.
- When the rain started, we had to beat a retreat back to the car.
- "to beat the odds": To succeed despite a low probability of success.
- The small company beat the odds and became very successful.
- "Off the beaten track/path": In a place that is remote, isolated, or not frequently visited.
- The cabin is off the beaten track, far from any town.
Variants and Related Words
- Beaten (adj.):
- Shaped or made thin by hammering. "a beaten copper bowl"
- Much trodden or used. "a beaten path"
- Defeated. "a beaten team"
- Beater (n.): A tool or person that beats something.
- Beat-up (adj., informal): Worn out or damaged from heavy use.
Synonyms
- Verb (hit): Strike, pound, batter, hammer.
- Verb (defeat): Defeat, conquer, vanquish, triumph over, outdo.
- Noun (rhythm): Rhythm, pulse, tempo, meter.
- Adjective (tired): Exhausted, worn out, bushed, dead tired.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Beat down:
- To strike with great force (e.g., sun, rain). "The sun was beating down on us."
- To persuade someone to lower a price. "I managed to beat the price down by twenty dollars."
- Beat out:
- To extinguish a fire by beating. "They beat out the flames with blankets."
- To defeat narrowly. "She beat out two other candidates for the job."
- Beat up:
- To assault someone by hitting them repeatedly. "He was beaten up by a gang."
- To mix vigorously. "Beat up the eggs before adding the flour."
- Beat off:
- To repel or drive back an attack. "The soldiers beat off the enemy assault."
Related Idioms
- Beat it! (slang): A rude command telling someone to go away immediately.
- He told the annoying kids to beat it.
- To beat a dead horse: To waste time and effort on a topic that is already settled or a situation that cannot be changed.
- Arguing about it now is just beating a dead horse.
- To beat someone to the punch: To do something before someone else does.
- I wanted to buy that vintage chair, but she beat me to the punch.
- To beat the clock: To finish something just before a deadline.
- We worked all night to beat the clock and submit the proposal on time.
Adjective
- very tired
- was all in at the end of the day
- so beat I could flop down and go to sleep anywhere
- bushed after all that exercise
- I'm dead after that long trip
Noun
- the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
- a stroke or blow
- the signal was two beats on the steam pipe
- a regular rate of repetition
- the cox raised the beat
- (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
- the sound of stroke or blow
- he heard the beat of a drum
- a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
- a single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies; has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations
- the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music
- the piece has a fast rhythm
- the conductor set the beat
- the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
- he could feel the beat of her heart
- a regular route for a sentry or policeman
- in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name
Verb
- wear out completely
- This kind of work exhausts me
- I'm beat
- He was all washed up after the exam
- be a mystery or bewildering to
- This beats me!
- Got me--I don't know the answer!
- a vexing problem
- This question really stuck me
- beat through cleverness and wit
- I beat the traffic
- She outfoxed her competitors
- strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
- produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly
- beat the drum
- make by pounding or trampling
- beat a path through the forest
- move with or as if with a regular alternating motion
- the city pulsated with music and excitement
- indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks
- Beat the rhythm
- move with a flapping motion
- The bird's wings were flapping
- make a sound like a clock or a timer
- the clocks were ticking
- the grandfather clock beat midnight
- avoid paying
- beat the subway fare
- be superior
- Reading beats watching television
- This sure beats work!
- strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music
- beat one's breast
- beat one's foot rhythmically
- stir vigorously
- beat the egg whites
- beat the cream
- sail with much tacking or with difficulty
- The boat beat in the strong wind
- move with a thrashing motion
- The bird flapped its wings
- The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky
- glare or strike with great intensity
- The sun was beating down on us
- make a rhythmic sound
- Rain drummed against the windshield
- The drums beat all night
- shape by beating
- beat swords into ploughshares
- move rhythmically
- Her heart was beating fast
- hit repeatedly
- beat on the door
- beat the table with his shoe
- give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression
- Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night
- The teacher used to beat the students
- come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
- Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship
- We beat the competition
- Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game