beat out

Verb

beat out (third-person singular simple present beats out, present participle beating out, simple past beat out, past participle beaten out or beat out)

1. To sound a rhythm on a percussion instrument such as a drum.
   • The drummer beat out a steady slow march.
   • The seasons bring the flower again,
     ⁠And bring the firstling to the flock;
     ⁠And in the dusk of thee, the clock
     Beats out the little lives of men.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto II”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
2. To extinguish.
   • He managed to beat the flames out with a blanket.
3. (US) To defeat by a narrow margin.
   • She beat out three other contenders to claim the prize.
4. To work out fully.
5. To make gold or silver leaf out of solid metal.
6. To bash a hole in.
7. To reach base after a bunt or groundball.
   • I then made another ſign that I wanted Drink. They found by my eating, that a ſmall Quantity would not ſuffice me, and being a moſt ingenious People, they flung up with great dexterity one of their largeſt Hogſheads, then rolled it towards my Hand, and beat out the top; I drank it off at a Draught...1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s...
8. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see beat, out.