What is "to beat about the bush"

Beat \Beat\, v. i.

1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

   The men of the city . . . beat at the door.
   --Judges. xix. 2

2. 2. To move with pulsation or throbbing.

   A thousand hearts beat happily.
   --Byron.

3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.

   Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below.
   --Dryden.

   They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.
   --Longfellow.

   The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.
   --Jonah iv. 8.

   Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.
   --Bacon.

4. To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic]

   To still my beating mind.
   --Shak.

5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.

6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat.

7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.

8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.

   A beating wind (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress.

   To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways.
   --Addison.

   To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously.

   To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag.

   To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.

   To beat the rap, to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent.

Bush \Bush\ (b[.u]sh), n. [OE. bosch, busch, buysch, bosk, busk; akin to D. bosch, OHG. busc, G. busch, Icel. b[=u]skr, b[=u]ski, Dan. busk, Sw. buske, and also to LL. boscus, buscus, Pr. bosc, It. bosco, Sp. & Pg. bosque, F. bois, OF. bos. Whether the LL. or G. form is the original is uncertain; if the LL., it is perh. from the same source as E. box a case. Cf. Ambush, Boscage, Bouquet, Box a case.]

1. A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest.

   Note: This was the original sense of the word, as in the Dutch bosch, a wood, and was so used by Chaucer. In this sense it is extensively used in the British colonies, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in Australia and Canada; as, to live or settle in the bush.

2. A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs.

   To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers.
   --Gascoigne.

3. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines.

4. A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.

   If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue.
   --Shak.

5. (Hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox.

   To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting.

   Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support ( Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1.

   Bush buck, or Bush goat (Zo["o]l.), a beautiful South African antelope ( Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species.

   Bush cat (Zo["o]l.), the serval. See Serval.

   Bush chat (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family.

   Bush dog. (Zo["o]l.) See Potto.

   Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary.

   Bush harrow (Agric.) See under Harrow.

   Bush hog (Zo["o]l.), a South African wild hog ( Potamoch[oe]rus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog.

   Bush master (Zo["o]l.), a venomous snake ( Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu.

   Bush pea (Bot.), a variety of pea that needs to be bushed.

   Bush shrike (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America.

   Bush tit (Zo["o]l.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. Psaltriparus minimus inhabits California.