to beat
- verb
- /biːt/
- She used a wooden spoon to beat the dough until it became smooth and elastic.
Examples
-
Automatically, without realizing it, he began to beat time with his right foot.
Fiction book (1998) -
The scissors were blunt, and he beat the leather with the chisel and the hammer.
Fiction book (1996) -
Under Nanny's watchful eye, Sophie had mixed and measured, beaten and blended her light-as-air sponge cake.
Fiction book (1999) -
The blacksmith expertly beat the hot metal into a beautifully shaped sword.
-
To create the perfect meringue, you must beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
Synonyms
To strike someone or something with force
To hit someone or something with force
To hit something again and again very hard
To hit something many times to shape or flatten it
To hit something hard so it makes a dull sound
Idioms
- Offensive
Hit someone many times until they are badly hurt or win against them very clearly
- Informal
To feel your heart stop for a moment because you are suddenly excited or scared
- Informal
Push away a lot of people or fans as a joke about being too popular
- Literature
To change weapons into tools for peaceful work like farming
Phrasal Verbs
- Offensive
To hurt or defeat someone very badly, often by hitting them
- Informal
To keep going despite difficulty or to make a steady sound like rain on a roof
- Offensive
To defeat someone completely, often physically or in a game, used in rude speech
Compounds
- NSFW
A group of American writers and artists from the 1950s who reject social rules and choose free creative lives
- Archaic
A style of pop rock from 1960s Britain with strong rhythms and simple melodies
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Etymology
The meaning of beat as 'shape by striking' is the literal sense of hitting a material again and again, as when goldsmiths beat metal into thin sheets. That's why metal is beaten to change its form.