(transitive) To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.
to overcome enemies in battle
A stroke; a blow.
(transitive) To win or prevail in some sort of battle, contest, etc.
We shall overcome.
A pulsation or throb.
a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse
To come or pass over; to spread over.
I was overcome with anger.
A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.
To overflow; to surcharge.
A rhythm.
(Scotland) The burden or recurring theme in a song.
(music) [specifically] The rhythm signalled by a conductor or other musician to the members of a group of musicians.
(Scotland) A surplus.
The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency
win a victory over;
You must overcome all difficulties
defeat your enemies
He overcame his shyness
She conquered here fear of mice
He overcame his infirmity
Her anger got the better of her and she blew up
(authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect; a plot point or story development.
get on top of; deal with successfully;
He overcame his shyness
The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
to walk the beat
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
(by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially
overcome, usually through no fault or weakness of the person that is overcome;
Heart disease can get the best of us
In journalism, the primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).
rendered powerless especially by an excessive amount or profusion of something;
a desk flooded with applications
felt inundated with work
too much overcome to notice
a man engulfed by fear
swamped by work
(dated) An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.
the beat of him
(dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.
(archaic) A low cheat or swindler.
a dead beat
The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
(hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
(fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
A beatnik.
(transitive) To hit; strike
As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled.
(transitive) To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.
He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.
(intransitive) To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
(intransitive) To move with pulsation or throbbing.
(transitive) To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do better than, outdo, or excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.
Jan had little trouble beating John in tennis. He lost five games in a row.
No matter how quickly Joe finished his test, Roger always beat him.
I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
(transitive) To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.
Beat the eggs and whip the cream.
of a buyer, to persuade the seller to reduce a price
He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.
(transitive) To indicate by beating or drumming.
to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters
To tread, as a path.
To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
To be in agitation or doubt.
To make a sound when struck.
The drums beat.
To make a succession of strokes on a drum.
The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
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.
(transitive) To arrive at a place before someone.
He beat me there.
The place is empty, we beat the crowd of people who come at lunch.
to masturbate.
This was the second time he beat off today.
exhausted
After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.
dilapidated, beat up
Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys.
(gay slang) fabulous
Her makeup was beat!
(slang) boring
ugly
a regular route for a sentry or policeman;
in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name
the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart;
he could feel the beat of her heart
the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music;
the piece has a fast rhythm
the conductor set the beat
a single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies; has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations
a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
the sound of stroke or blow;
he heard the beat of a drum
(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
a regular rate of repetition;
the cox raised the beat
a stroke or blow;
the signal was two beats on the steam pipe
the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
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
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
hit repeatedly;
beat on the door
beat the table with his shoe
move rhythmically;
Her heart was beating fast
shape by beating;
beat swords into ploughshares
make a rhythmic sound;
Rain drummed against the windshield
The drums beat all night
glare or strike with great intensity;
The sun was beating down on us
move with a thrashing motion;
The bird flapped its wings
The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky
sail with much tacking or with difficulty;
The boat beat in the strong wind
stir vigorously;
beat the egg whites
beat the cream
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
be superior;
Reading beats watching television
This sure beats work!
avoid paying;
beat the subway fare
make a sound like a clock or a timer;
the clocks were ticking
the grandfather clock beat midnight
move with a flapping motion;
The bird's wings were flapping
indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks;
Beat the rhythm
move with or as if with a regular alternating motion;
the city pulsated with music and excitement
make by pounding or trampling;
beat a path through the forest
produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly;
beat the drum
strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
beat through cleverness and wit;
I beat the traffic
She outfoxed her competitors
be a mystery or bewildering to;
This beats me!
Got me--I don't know the answer!
a vexing problem
This question really stuck me
wear out completely;
This kind of work exhausts me
I'm beat
He was all washed up after the exam
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