to beat the band
1
8.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
darlo todo
- Till the whole orchestra is playing to beat the band!
Examples
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Smiling to beat the band.
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Well, don't this beat the band.
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Today we're turning out the deals that beat the band- -
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Made me laugh to beat the band.
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Those Aggies was just celebratin' to beat the band.
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They both commence laughing to beat the band, her arms around his neck and Mr. Waldo looking like a sixteen-year-old schoolboy instead of something closer to fifty, and one of the richest men in the world, according to what Gan told.
Fiction book (1994) -
The crowd cheered and danced to beat the band during the festival performances.
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She organized the event with energy that made everyone want to beat the band.
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The children sang their songs to beat the band, filling the room with joy.
Synonyms
15
7.9
Do very well in a competition or challenge
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'with exceptional energy/intensity' cannot be straightforwardly derived from the literal meanings of 'beat' (to strike/defeat) and 'band' (a group of musicians); a literal reading would be nonsensical. This phrase is an idiomatic intensifier with a historical/metaphorical origin that is not compositionally transparent or cross-linguistically predictable, so a B1 learner knowing the parts would not reliably infer the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Beat the band may come from the image of someone cheering or working so loudly and hard that they seem to beat the sound of a whole band. So it means 'with great energy' today.