beat

verb (DEFEAT)

/biːt/ (beat, beaten or US also beat)

Definition

B1 [T] to defeat or do better than: Simon always beats me at tennis. Holland beat Belgium (by) 3–1. Our team was comfortably/easily/soundly beaten in the first round of the competition. The Nationalists were narrowly beaten in the local election. He beat me fair and square (= without cheating). They were beaten hands down (= completely) by their opponents. She has beaten her own record of three minutes ten seconds.US He beat out all the top competitors in his sport.Winning and defeatingScoring, winning and losing in sport C2 informal to be more enjoyable than another activity or experience: [+ -ing verb] Taking the bus sure beats walking.slang Taking the bus beats the hell out of (= is much better than) walking all the way there. You can't beat (= there is nothing more enjoyable than) a cold beer on a hot afternoon.Surpassing in quality or number › [T] To beat something that is going to happen is to take action before the thing happens: Let's try to beat the traffic problems by leaving early in the morning. I always do my shopping early to beat the rush.Acting and actsDealing with things or people beat sb to it › to do something before someone else does it: I was just going to tidy up the kitchen, but you've beaten me to it.Preceding and introducing

(Definition of beat verb (DEFEAT) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)