beat a retreat
beat a retreat · beats a retreat · beat a retreat · beaten a retreat · beating a retreat
To leave hastily in the face of oppositionTo leave hastily in the face of opposition.
» Tom beat a hasty retreat.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(idiomatic, informal)To leave hastily in the face of opposition.
depart hastily
Examples
1 sentencesTom beat a hasty retreat.
Origin
See beat (“to signal beating a drum”).See beat (“to signal beating a drum”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
beats a retreat, beating a retreat, beat a retreat, beaten a retreat| Base form | beat a retreat · to beat a retreat |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | beats a retreat |
| Present participle | beating a retreat |
| Past simple | beat a retreat |
| Past participle | beaten a retreat |
irregular · Lesson
Lessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.