beat

n. 1. One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him. [ Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. The act of one that beats a person or thing; as: (a) (Newspaper Cant) The act of obtaining and publishing a piece of news by a newspaper before its competitors; also, the news itself; -- also called a scoop or exclusive. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

It's a beat on the whole country. Scribner's Mag. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(b) (Hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively. “Driven out in the course of a beat.” Encyc. of Sport. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them. Encyc. of Sport. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(c) (Fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. [ 1913 Webster ]

The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges. xix. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move with pulsation or throbbing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thousand hearts beat happily. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

They [ winds ] beat at the crazy casement. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah iv. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be in agitation or doubt. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To still my beating mind. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A stroke; a blow. [ 1913 Webster ]

He, with a careless beat,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or reënforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat, v. i., 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

6. A place of habitual or frequent resort. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, deadbeat. [ Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc. --
Beat of a watch, or
Beat of a clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Quite beat, and very much vexed and disappointed. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. capable of being defeated.
Syn. -- vanquishable, vincible. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use. “A broad and beaten way.” Milton. “Beaten gold.” Shak. “off the beaten track.” [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Vanquished; defeated; conquered; baffled. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Exhausted; tired out. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Become common or trite; as, a beaten phrase. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Tried; practiced. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. worn by use into a deplorable condition. the beaten-up old Ford
Syn. -- battered, beat-up, bedraggled, broken-down, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumble-down, unsound. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, beats. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person who beats up game for the hunters. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]