Word.ws English Dictionary

beats a hasty retreat

beats a hasty retreat is the third-person singular simple present indicative of beat a hasty retreat.

Meaning of beat a hasty retreat

Verb

beat a hasty retreat (third-person singular simple present beats a hasty retreat, present participle beating a hasty retreat, simple past beat a hasty retreat, past participle beaten a hasty retreat)

  1. To leave as quickly as possible.
    • A few nights ago, a fair trader had commenced unloading her cargo, consisting of light goods, in the Pent, but in the midst of the operation was discovered by the Philistines, and obliged to beat a hasty retreat across the rope-walk to the sea...1827, The Times

Questions about beats a hasty retreat

What is beats a hasty retreat the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Beats a hasty retreat is the third-person singular simple present indicative of beat a hasty retreat.

Words near beats a hasty retreat in the dictionary

  1. Beatrice
  2. Beatrix
  3. Beatriz
  4. beats
  5. beats a dead horse
  6. beats a hasty retreat
  7. beats about
  8. beats about the bush
  9. beats all
  10. beats around the bush
  11. beats as one

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beats a hasty retreat (page history and authors); beat a hasty retreat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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