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Glite Dictionary
to beat the bushes

to beat the bushes

2 7.2
Search carefully in many places to find someone or something
  • idiom
translation icon : buscar a fondo
  • The committee decided to beat the bushes to find potential candidates for the open position.
  • beat the bushes to find
  • beat the bushes to get
  • go out and beat the bushes

Examples

  • As Bruckart puts it, "They're the ones beating the bushes for useful disease agents."

    Academic text (2000)

  • He didn't care to beat the bushes anymore; he was too old for that, so I'd go around to the fast food joints, hospitals, and you name it, and start the conversation.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • "They have been beating the bushes for me since yesterday afternoon.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Or I could beat the bushes in the park for some closet.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Thought you guys would be out beating the bushes for Jungle Jim.

    Alligator (1980)

  • l'm out here, beating the bushes, trying to draw him out.

    Zodiac (2007)

  • Why are they loafing rather than out beating the bushes for food?

    Academic text (1993)

  • He spent two days there beating the bushes.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • These hunting parties, made up of ten or more warriors each, beat the bushes and checked behind each boulder in the jungle immediately surrounding the village.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • They went out, beat the bushes, and placed the tables on location, and suddenly you had operators scrambling around trying to protect their locations, trying to buy cocktail tables.

    Blog text (13)

Synonyms

to hunt
vsto beat the bushes
190 1.2

To look carefully for something or someone

involves more energetic and wide exploration than careful searching
to hunt down
vsto beat the bushes
148 3.9

Search for and find someone or something after a lot of effort

emphasizes the energetic process of searching rather than guaranteeing success
to ferret out
vsto beat the bushes
  • Informal
13 6.7

To search carefully to find hidden facts or documents

searches energetically across many sources rather than focusing on hidden items
to leave no stone unturned
vsto beat the bushes
  • Informal
8 4.4

Try every possible way and search everywhere to achieve a goal

uses energetic wide reaching searching across all possible avenues
to look high and low
vsto beat the bushes
  • Informal
1 3.9

To search everywhere for something that is lost

searches energetically while also exploring many different sources
to beat about
vsto beat the bushes
  • UK
7.4

Move around looking for something in a worried or confused way

searches energetically and systematically rather than in a confused way

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Thorough

to beat the bushes
2 7.2
to search
∞ 1.0
to look
∞ 1.0
to glance
299 1.5

Surface Forms

beat the bushes infinitive
beat the bushes past
beat the bushes past participle
beating the bushes present participle
beats the bushes third person singular

Morphology

beat + the + bush

The figurative meaning 'to search thoroughly' follows directly from the literal image of striking bushes to drive out hidden animals or items, so a learner who knows 'beat' (to strike) and 'bushes' (dense vegetation) can infer the extended sense. This hunting/search metaphor is cross-linguistically common and uses straightforward compositional logic, making the expression immediately comprehensible to a B1-level learner.

Etymology

Beat the bushes may come from hunting, where people would beat the bushes to make hidden animals run out into the open, so today it means 'to search carefully and everywhere'.