Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BEATOFF

Verb

beat off (third-person singular simple present beats off, present participle beating off, simple past beat off, past participle beaten off or beat off)Category:English lemmas#BEATOFFCategory:English verbs#BEATOFFCategory:English phrasal verbs#BEATOFFCategory:English phrasal verbs formed with %22off%22#BEATOFFCategory:English multiword terms#BEATOFFCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BEATOFFCategory:Pages with entries#BEAT%20OFFCategory:Pages with 1 entry#BEAT%20OFF

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BEATOFF, now often figurative) To drive something away with blows or military force.
   • 1697, Carradoc Of Lhancarvan, The history of Wales, page 33:

     ...which Action did not so much grieve the English, as trouble and vex the Picts and Scots, who were incessantly gauled and frequently beat off by these Danish Troops.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BEATOFF

   • 1954 November 27, “Red Assault on Tiny Isle Beaten Off, Say Nationalists”, in The Daily Colonist‎, volume 96, number 294, Victoria, British Columbia, page 1, column 6:

     First reports were that the Reds, in five gunboats and swarms of junks, succeeded in landing on tiny Wuchiu in Formosa Strait, but were beaten off with many captured.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BEATOFF

   • 1968 September, Betty & Me, volume 16, Archie Comics, front cover:

     (Betty) Did you have any trouble rescuing me?
     (Archie) I sure did, Betty! I had to beat off three other guys!

     Category:English terms with quotations#BEATOFF

   • 2021 September 22, “National Rail Awards 2021: London Liverpool Street - Network Rail”, in RAIL, number 940, page 47:

     London Liverpool Street beat off stiff competition to be highly commended in this category, despite having had no major redevelopment for three decades.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BEATOFF

2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BEATOFF, idiomaticCategory:English idioms#BEATOFF, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#BEATOFF, colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#BEATOFF, chiefly USCategory:American English#BEATOFF, CanadaCategory:Canadian English#BEATOFF) To masturbate by stimulating one's own penis.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:masturbate

   • 2003, David Burke, The Slangman guide to dirty English: dangerous expressions Americans use, page 13:

     Example 1: "I don't need a girlfriend. I just need some swimsuit catalogs, so I can beat off six or seven times a day."

     Category:English terms with quotations#BEATOFF

3. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BEATOFF, idiomaticCategory:English idioms#BEATOFF, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#BEATOFF, colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#BEATOFF) To waste time.

   I beat off at work all day; I didn't get anything done.Category:English terms with usage examples#BEATOFF

4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BEATOFF, slangCategory:English slang#BEATOFF, African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#BEATOFF) To shoot (a gun).

   He beat his pistol off into the air.Category:English terms with usage examples#BEATOFF

Anagrams

• offbeat