1. (

• beat_generation ,
• beats ,
• beatniks

) a United States youth subculture of the 1950s; rejected possessions or regular work or traditional dress; for communal living and psychedelic drugs and anarchism; favored modern forms of jazz (e.g., bebop) ;

1. (

• beat ,
• beat_out ,
• crush ,
• shell ,
• trounce ,
• vanquish

) come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game" ;

2. (

• beat ,
• beat_up ,
• work_over

) give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression; "Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night"; "The teacher used to beat the students" ;

3. (

• beat

) hit repeatedly; "beat on the door"; "beat the table with his shoe" ;

4. (

• beat ,
• pound ,
• thump

) move rhythmically; "Her heart was beating fast" ;

5. (

• beat

) shape by beating; "beat swords into ploughshares" ;

6. (

• drum ,
• beat ,
• thrum

) make a rhythmic sound; "Rain drummed against the windshield"; "The drums beat all night" ;

7. (

• beat ,

) glare or strike with great intensity; "The sun was beating down on us" ;

8. (

• beat ,
• flap ,

) move with a thrashing motion; "The bird flapped its wings"; "The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky" ;

9. (

• beat ,

) sail with much tacking or with difficulty; "The boat beat in the strong wind" ;

10. (

• beat ,
• scramble ,

) stir vigorously; "beat the egg whites"; "beat the cream" ;

11. (

• beat ,

) strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music; "beat one's breast"; "beat one's foot rhythmically" ;

12. (

• beat

) be superior; "Reading beats watching television"; "This sure beats work!" ;

13. (

• beat ,
• bunk

) avoid paying; "beat the subway fare" ;

14. (

• tick ,
• ticktock ,
• ticktack ,
• beat ,

) make a sound like a clock or a timer; "the clocks were ticking"; "the grandfather clock beat midnight" ;

15. (

• beat ,
• flap ,

) move with a flapping motion; "The bird's wings were flapping" ;

16. (

• beat ,

) indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks; "Beat the rhythm" ;

17. (

• pulsate ,
• beat ,
• quiver ,

) move with or as if with a regular alternating motion; "the city pulsated with music and excitement" ;

18. (

• beat ,

) make by pounding or trampling; "beat a path through the forest" ;

19. (

• beat ,

) produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly; "beat the drum" ;

20. (

• beat ,

) strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting ;

21. (

• outwit ,
• overreach ,
• outsmart ,
• outfox ,
• beat ,
• circumvent

) beat through cleverness and wit; "I beat the traffic"; "She outfoxed her competitors" ;

22. (

• perplex ,
• vex ,
• stick ,
• get ,
• puzzle ,
• mystify ,
• baffle ,
• beat ,
• pose ,
• bewilder ,
• flummox ,
• stupefy ,
• nonplus ,
• gravel ,
• amaze ,
• dumbfound

) be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me;

23. (

• exhaust ,
• wash_up ,
• beat ,
• tucker ,
• tucker_out

) wear out completely; "This kind of work exhausts me"; "I'm beat"; "He was all washed up after the exam" ;

1. (

• all_in ,
• beat ,
• bushed ,
• dead

) very tired; "was all in at the end of the day"; "so beat I could flop down and go to sleep anywhere"; "bushed after all that exercise"; "I'm dead after that long trip" ;