What do a dead horse and a hasty retreat have in common? Same thing that around the bush has in common with a path to your door. They all become in-the-language phrases when the word beat is place in front of them.
Beat’s a great word.
As a verb it can mean:
• to strike forcefully and repeatedly, as an animal or object;
• to dash against, as drops of mist vis-a-vis shrubbery;
• to flutter, flap, or rotate in or against, as insect wings vis-a-vis air;
• to sound, as with a drum;
• to stir vigorously, as eggs or batter;
• to break, forge, or make by blows, as swords into plowshares;
• to produce by repeated efforts, as instilling “some sense” into someone;
• to make by repeated treading, as a path;
• to mark, as time or rhythm, by strokes, as with one’s hand, a baton, or the like;
• to scour, as a wooded area, trying to stir up game;
• to overcome in a contest;
• to finish ahead of, as in a race;
• to be superior to, as in terms of preference;
• to be incomprehensible to, as a riddle;
• to defeat or significantly frustrate (a person), as a problem;
• to mitigate or offset the effects of, as uncomfortable weather conditions;
• to swindle or cheat, often with “out of”;
• to escape or avoid, as blame or punishment; and maybe more.
As a noun it can mean:
• a stroke or blow;
• the sound made by a stroke or blow;
• a throb or pulsation;
• the ticking sound made by a timepiece;
• an assigned or regular path or round, as for a law enforcement officer;
• in music, an audible, visual, or mental marking of metrical divisions;
• in drama, a momentary time unit, as for timing actions or lines; and
• maybe more.
As an adjective, beat means exhausted.
In athletic tryouts one tries to beat out others to get on the team. In combat we might need to beat back the enemy. To beat up someone is – well, to treat them harshly, physically or otherwise. When defendants in court beat the rap, they go free.
What other, longer in-the language phrases, idiomatic or otherwise, can you think of that contain the word beat?
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Ark., where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at vicfleming@att.net.