from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Beat \Beat\, v. i.
1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock
vigorously or loudly.
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The men of the city . . . beat at the door.
--Judges. xix.
22.
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2. To move with pulsation or throbbing.
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A thousand hearts beat happily. --Byron.
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3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force;
to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.
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Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. --Dryden.
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They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.
--Longfellow.
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The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he
fainted, and wished in himself to die. --Jonah iv.
8.
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Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.
--Bacon.
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4. To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic]
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To still my beating mind. --Shak.
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5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a
zigzag line or traverse.
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6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat.
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7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the
drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
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8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid
alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to
produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones,
or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.
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{A beating wind} (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking
in order to make progress.
{To beat about}, to try to find; to search by various means
or ways. --Addison.
{To beat about the bush}, to approach a subject circuitously.
{To beat up and down} (Hunting), to run first one way and
then another; -- said of a stag.
{To beat up for recruits}, to go diligently about in order to
get helpers or participators in an enterprise.
{To beat the rap}, to be acquitted of an accusation; --
especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to
be proven innocent.
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