beat about the bush see under bush¹

beat a retreat

1. To retreat, orig to beat the drum as a signal for retreat (beat the retreat to perform the military ceremony (beating the retreat) consisting of marching and military music usu performed at dusk, orig marking the recall of troops to their quarters)
2. To go away in a hurry, esp to avoid punishment or unpleasantness

beat down

Of a buyer, to try to reduce (the price of goods), to persuade (the seller) to settle for less

beat it (slang)

1. To make off hastily or furtively
2. (often as imperative) go away!

beat off

To overcome or repel

beat one's brains or beat one's brains out

To puzzle about something

beat one's breast

To show extravagant signs of grief

beat out

To flatten or reduce in thickness by beating

beat someone's brains out (slang)

1. To kill by hitting repeatedly on the head
2. To subject to a vicious beating

beat someone to it

To manage to do something before someone else can

beat the air

To fight to no purpose, or against an imaginary enemy

beat the bounds

To trace out boundaries in a perambulation, certain objects in the line of journey being formally struck

beat the clock

To do or finish something within the time allowed

beat the pants or socks off (informal)

To defeat thoroughly

beat the retreat see beat a retreat above.

beat up

1. To pound or whip into froth, paste, a mixture, etc
2. To put up game, by beating the bushes, etc
3. To alarm by a sudden attack
4. (also in US beat up on) to thrash, to subject to a violent and brutal attack (informal)
5. To disturb
6. To arouse
7. To go about in quest of anything
8. To make way against wind or tide

(it) beats me (informal)

I have no idea what the answer is

take a beating (informal)

To suffer physical or verbal chastisement

take some (or a lot of) beating (informal)

To be of very high quality, ie to be difficult to surpass

bush¹ /bŭsh/

1. A woody plant between a tree and an undershrub in size
2. A shrub thick with branches
3. Anything of bushy tuft-like shape, eg a bushy head of hair or the pubic hair
4. Forest
5. Wild uncultivated country covered with bushes, trees, etc
6. Such country even though treeless
7. The wild
8. A bunch of ivy hung up as a tavern sign (obsolete)
9. A tavern (obsolete)

To grow thick or bushy

1. To set bushes round
2. To support with bushes
3. To cover (seeds) by means of the bush-harrow

bushed adjective

1. Lost in or as in the bush (Aust and NZ)
2. Suffering mental disturbance as a result of living in isolation (Can)
3. Tired (informal)

bushˈiness noun

bushˈy adjective

1. Full of or like bushes
2. Thick and spreading

Someone who lives in the bush

bushˈbaby noun

Any of several nocturnal small African lemur-like primates, such as Galago senegalensis, also called night-ape

bushˈbuck noun (also (Dutch) boschbok /bosˈbok/ or (Afrikaans) bosbok /bosˈbok/)

A small S African antelope, or any other of the same genus (Tragelaphus)

bushˈ-cat noun

The serval

bushˈcraft noun

Practical knowledge of the bush and skill in its ways

bush dog noun

A small wild dog native to S American forests

bushˈfire noun (esp Aust and NZ)

A fire in forest or scrub

bushˈ-fly noun

A small black Australian fly (Musca vetustissima or other species)

bushˈ-fruit noun

A fruit growing on a bush, such as gooseberry or raspberry

bushˈ-harrow noun

A light harrow for covering grass-seeds, formed of a barred frame interwoven with bushes or branches

bushˈ-house noun (Aust)

A house or hut in the bush or in a garden

bush jacket see bush shirt below.

bush'land noun (Aust)

The outback

bushˈ-lawyer noun (Aust)

1. Any of several prickly climbing plants, esp of the genus Calamus
2. Someone who pretends a knowledge of law

bushˈman noun

1. A settler or traveller in the bush (Aust and NZ)
2. (with cap) another name for San

bushˈmanship noun

Bushcraft

bushˈmaster noun

A venomous S American snake (Lachesis mutus)

bushˈmeat noun

The meat of wild animals, esp apes, eaten as food

bush pig noun

A wild pig of S Africa and Madagascar (also called red river hog)

bush pilot noun

An airline pilot operating over uninhabited country

bushˈranger noun

1. A lawless person, often an escaped criminal, who takes to the bush and lives by robbery (Aust)
2. A backwoodsman
3. A rapacious person

bushˈ-rope noun

A liana

bush shirt or bush jacket noun

A cotton, etc garment with four patch pockets and a belt

bushˈ-shrike noun

1. Any bird belonging to certain genera of an African subfamily of the shrikes, applied collectively to the subfamily as a whole
2. An ant thrush (Formicariidae family)

bush sickness noun (Aust and NZ)

A disease of cattle, sheep and goats, caused by a mineral deficiency in pastures

bush tea noun

Tea made from the leaves of various S African shrubs

bush telegraph noun

1. The rapid transmission of news among primitive communities by drum-beating, etc
2. Gossip, rumour (facetious)

bushˈtit noun

A small long-tailed tit of W America, which builds a large hanging nest

bush tucker noun (Aust)

Food available for eating in the bush, such as wild plants, animals and insects

bushˈveld or boschˈveld /bosˈ/ noun

Veld made up largely of woodland

bushˈwalk intransitive verb (Aust)

To walk or hike through the bush as a leisure activity (also noun)

bushˈwalker noun

bushˈwalking noun

bushˈwhack intransitive verb (chiefly N American)

1. To range through the bush
2. To fight in guerrilla warfare
3. To travel through woods, esp by clearing a way to do so
4. To work in the bush, esp as an unskilled labourer felling timber (Aust and NZ)

transitive verb (N American)

To ambush

bushˈwhacker noun

1. A guerrilla fighter
2. A backwoodsman, country-dweller, often (derogatory) a country bumpkin or lout (N American and Aust)
3. A short heavy scythe for cutting bushes
4. A person who clears a way in the bush
5. A sniper

bushˈwhacking noun

1. The habits or practices of bushwhackers
2. The process of forcing a way for a boat by pulling at the bushes overhanging a stream

bushˈwoman noun

A woman living in the African or Australian bush

beat about the bush

To prevaricate, avoid coming to the point

go bush (Aust inf)

1. To go off into the bush
2. To leave town or one's usual haunts
3. To abandon civilized life