DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Beat, v. i.
 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
    The men of the city . . . beat at the door.   --Judges. xix. 22.
 2. To move with pulsation or throbbing.
    A thousand hearts beat happily.   --Byron.
 3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.
    Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below.   --Dryden.
    They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.   --Longfellow.
    The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.   --Jonah iv. 8.
    Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.   --Bacon.
 4. To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic]
    To still my beating mind.   --Shak.
 5. Naut. To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.
 6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat.
 7. Mil. To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
 8. Acoustics & Mus. 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.
 A beating wind Naut., a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress.
 To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. --Addison.
 To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously.
 To beat up and down Hunting, to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag.
 To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.
 To beat the rap, to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent.

 Bush n.
 1. A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest.
 Note: ☞ This was the original sense of the word, as in the Dutch bosch, a wood, and was so used by Chaucer. In this sense it is extensively used in the British colonies, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in Australia and Canada; as, to live or settle in the bush.
 2. A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs.
    To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers.   --Gascoigne.
 3. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines.
 4. A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
    If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue.   --Shak.
 5. Hunting The tail, or brush, of a fox.
 To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting.
 Bush bean Bot., a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1.
 Bush buck, or Bush goat Zool., a beautiful South African antelope (Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species.
 Bush cat Zool., the serval. See Serval.
 Bush chat Zool., a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family.
 Bush dog. Zool. See Potto.
 Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary.
 Bush harrow Agric. See under Harrow.
 Bush hog Zool., a South African wild hog (Potamochœrus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog.
 Bush master Zool., a venomous snake (Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu.
 Bush pea Bot., a variety of pea that needs to be bushed.
 Bush shrike Zool., a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America.
 Bush tit Zool., a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. Psaltriparus minimus inhabits California.