beat a retreat
To withdraw or back down from a situation
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Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
beat as one
to act or move in perfect harmony
beat Banaghan
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat feet
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat it
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat like a jungle drum
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat off
to repel or fight off something
beat off with a stick
to have numerous people attracted or interested
beat one's brain
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat one's swords into ploughshares
To convert instruments of war into tools for peaceful use
beat one's swords into plowshares
To convert instruments of war into tools for peaceful use
beat out the chest
to proudly show off one's strength or accomplishments
beat someone round the ears
to scold or criticize someone severely
beat someone's arse
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat someone's ass
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat someone's brains out
to try very hard to think of something
beat the bishop
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat the bushes
Search thoroughly and energetically for something
beat the clock
Complete a task before a deadline expires
beat the cock
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat the crowd
to do something before others do
beat the daylights out of
to defeat or punish someone severely
beat the drum for
To actively support or promote something
beat the dust
to leave or escape a place quickly
beat the odds
Succeed despite low chances or unfavorable circumstances
beat the pants off
to defeat or outdo someone thoroughly
beat the poop out of
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat the shit out of
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
beat the stuffing out of
to hit or attack someone very severely
beat to the punch
To act before someone else does
beat with the ugly stick
to be very unattractive
beatemest
Best.
beaten black and blue
So that the skin is black and blue with the marks of the beating.
beater-cases
Boots. Nearly obsolete. TROTTER CASES is the term nowadays.
beating the devil's tattoo
Tapping on the table with one's finger a wearisome number of times, or on the floor with one's foot; repeating any rhythmical mechanical sound with annoying pertinacity.
beats me
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Beau Feilding
Robert Feilding (d. 1712), called "Handsome Feilding" by Charles IJ. He died in Scotland Yard, London, after having been convicted of bigamously marrying the Duchess of Cleveland, a former mistress of Charles II. He figures as Orlando in Steele's Taller (Nos. 50 and 51).
Beau Hewitt
' The model for "Sir Fopling Flutter," hero of Etheredge's Man of Mode.
beau ideal
Properly, the ideal Beautiful, the abstract idea of beauty, ideal, m the French, being the adjective, and beau, the substantive: but in English the parts played by the words are usually transposed, and thus have come to mean the ideal type or model of anything in its most consummate perfection.
beau monde
The fashionable world; people who make up the coterie of fashion.
Beau Nash
Richard Nash (1674-1762). Son of a Welsh gentleman, a notorious diner- out. He undertook the management of the rooms at Bath, and conducted the public balls with a splendour and decorum never before witnessed.
beau trap
A loose stone in a pavement, under which water lodges, and on being trod upon, squirts it up, to the great damage of white stockings; also a sharper neatly dressed, lying in wait for raw country squires, or ignorant fops.
beau trap
An old slang expression for a loose paving-stone under which water lodged, and which squirted up filth when trodden on, to the annoyance of the smartly dressed.
beau-nasty
A slovenly fop; one finely dressed, but dirty.
beaumont and fletcher’s
Comedy of The Beggar’s Bush, 4to, 1661.
Beautiful Parricide
Beatrice Cenci, daughter of Francesco Cenci, a dissipated and passion- ate Roman nobleman. With her brothers, she plotted the death of her father because of his unmitigated cruelty to his wife and children. She was executed in 1599, and at-the trial her counsel, with the view of still further gaining popular sympathy for his client, accused the father, probably without foundation, of having attempted to commit incest with her.
beautiful people
Attractive and fashionable people, especially in a social elite
Beauty and the Beast
The hero and heroine of the well-known fairy tale in which Beauty saved the life of her father by consent- ing to live with the Beast; and the Beast, being disenchanted by Beauty's love, became a handsome prince, and married her.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Beauty is subjective and varies from person to person
beauty is only skin deep
Physical attractiveness does not reflect inner character
Beauty is truth, truth beauty (John Keats)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
beauty queen
A woman who wins a beauty contest
beauty sleep
Sleep needed to feel rested and look attractive
beauty sleep
Sleep taken before midnight. Those who habitually go to bed, especially during youth, after midnight, are supposed to become pale and more or less haggard.
beaver
Old street term for a hat; GOSS is the modern word, BEAVER, except in the country, having fallen into disuse.
beaver away
Work steadily and diligently at something
bebee
A lady.—Anglo-Indian.
becalmed
A piece of sea wit, sported in hot weather. I am becalmed, the sail sticks to the mast; that is, my shirt sticks to my back. His prad is becalmed; his horse knocked up.
because of
due to a particular reason or circumstance
beck
A beadle. See HERMANBECK.
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