| English Dictionary |
BEAT ABOUT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does beat about mean?
• BEAT ABOUT (verb)
The verb BEAT ABOUT has 1 sense:
1. search anxiously
Familiarity information: BEAT ABOUT used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Search anxiously
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Synonyms:
beat about; cast about; cast around
Hypernyms (to "beat about" is one way to...):
explore; research; search (inquire into)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Context examples
Miss Eyre, you are not so unsophisticated as Adele: she demands a 'cadeau,' clamorously, the moment she sees me: you beat about the bush.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The mother ptarmigan beat about him with great outcry.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
At first I inclined to slack off sail and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it whether we would or no.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
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