Meaning

2 senses

  1. To brag ostentatiously.

    beating his chest about his accomplishments

  2. Synonym of beat one's breast (“lament”).

Examples

2 sentences

  1. They beat their chests and lamented bitterly.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · AlanF_US · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. The gorilla beat his chest.

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Origin

The bragging sense may have come from, and certainly connotatively evokes, the theme of go

The bragging sense may have come from, and certainly connotatively evokes, the theme of gorillas beating their chests in displays of dominance, aggression, defense, or otherwise.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

beats one's chest, beating one's chest, beat one's chest, beaten one's chest
Base formbeat one's chest · to beat one's chest
3rd person singularbeats one's chest
Present participlebeating one's chest
Past simplebeat one's chest
Past participlebeaten one's chest / beat one's chest

irregular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theybeat one's chest
he, she, itbeats one's chest

Past simpleLesson

all personsbeat one's chest

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave beaten one's chest
he, she, ithas beaten one's chest

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill beat one's chest

Synonyms

1 synonyms
beat one's breast

Word family

2 related words
Relatedchest-beatingchest-thumping

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
beastiebeatB1beaterbeatingbeatitudebeatnik
beat one's chest — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto