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The Collaborative International Dictionary
To beat up

Beat \Beat\ (b[=e]t), v. t. [imp. Beat; p. p. Beat, Beaten; p. pr. & vb. n. Beating.] [OE. beaten, beten, AS. be['a]tan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. b[=o]zan. Cf. 1st Butt, Button.]

  1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum.

    Thou shalt beat some of it [spices] very small.
    --Ex. xxx. 36.

    They did beat the gold into thin plates.
    --Ex. xxxix. 3.

  2. To punish by blows; to thrash.

  3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game.

    To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey.
    --Prior.

  4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind.

    A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms.
    --Milton.

  5. To tread, as a path.

    Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way.
    --Blackmore.

  6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to.

    He beat them in a bloody battle.
    --Prescott.

    For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that.
    --M. Arnold.

  7. To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out. [Colloq.]

  8. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

    Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic?
    --Locke.

  9. (Mil.) To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc.

  10. to baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person); as, it beats me why he would do that.

  11. to evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment); as, to beat the rap (be acquitted); to beat the sales tax by buying out of state. To beat down, to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down. [Colloq.] To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition. To beat off, to repel or drive back. To beat out, to extend by hammering. To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. ``Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it to this day.'' --South. To beat the dust. (Man.)

    1. To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse.

    2. To perform curvets too precipitately or too low.

      To beat the hoof, to walk; to go on foot.

      To beat the wing, to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation.

      To beat time, to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.

      To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters.

      Syn: To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome.

Usage examples of "to beat up".

Plus, you'll be powerful enough to beat up anybody who doesn't like it.

Them sec men of his are startin' to beat up on the armless, earless and noseless.

The kind of kids other kids would want to beat up if it didn't seem so pointless and dull.

When the class is dismissed for lunch, Scout's first impulse is to beat up Walter, whom she blames for getting her in trouble with the teacher.

Do you drive it around a lot, or only when you go cruising for people to beat up?

Likewise, any person associated with a negative life experience--the first kid to beat up on you, the first boy/girl to two-time you, the first boss to fire you--forms expectations of others who look or act as he/she did.

Frank had managed to bring them round to the idea that it wasn't right to beat up on someone for being so desperate he had to take Spanish money.