beat to

English

Etymology

Shortening of beat to the punch.(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To arrive (somewhere) more quickly (than someone else); to succeed (at something) more quickly (than someone else).

   Zumbetel wanted to beat Yalpatel to launching the planet's first pocket-sized satellite phone.

   I wanted to gather up all the pinecones, but you beat me to it!

Anagrams

• tobeat