Found 1 items, similar to To beat about the bush.
English → English (gcide) Definition: To beat about the bush Beat \Beat\, v. i. 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. [1913 Webster] The men of the city . . . beat at the door. --Judges. xix. 22. [1913 Webster] 2. To move with pulsation or throbbing. [1913 Webster] A thousand hearts beat happily. --Byron. [1913 Webster] 3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. [1913 Webster] Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] They [winds] beat at the crazy casement. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. --Jonah iv. 8. [1913 Webster] Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. --Bacon. [1913 Webster] 4. To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic] [1913 Webster] To still my beating mind. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. [1913 Webster] 6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. [1913 Webster] 7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Bush \Bush\ (b[.u]sh), n. [OE. bosch, busch, buysch, bosk, busk; akin to D. bosch, OHG. busc, G. busch, Icel. b[=u]skr, b[=u]ski, Dan. busk, Sw. buske, and also to LL. boscus, buscus, Pr. bosc, It. bosco, Sp. & Pg. bosque, F. bois, OF. bos. Whether the LL. or G. form is the original is uncertain; if the LL., it is perh. from the same source as E. box a case. Cf. Ambush, Boscage, Bouquet, Box a case.] 1. A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 2. A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs. [1913 Webster] To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers. --Gascoigne. [1913 Webster] 3. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 5. (Hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox. [1913 Webster] 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 (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), the serval. See Serval. Bush chat (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family. Bush dog. (Zo["o]l.) See Potto. Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary. Bush harrow (Agric.) See under Harrow. Bush hog (Zo["o]l.), a South African wild hog (Potamoch[oe]rus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog. Bush master (Zo["o]l.), a venomous snake (Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu. Bush pea (Bot.), a variety of pea that needs to be bushed. Bush shrike (Zo["o]l.), a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America. Bush tit (Zo["o]l.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. Psaltriparus minimus inhabits California. [1913 Webster]