beat the bushes

verb

Synonym of pound the pavement (“to campaign diligently; to seek something”).

“They started beating the bushes in search of a commercially available solvent that would aid their manufacturing but wouldn't be too horribly toxic and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.”

Similar
pound the pavement
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Meanings

verbbeat the bushes (third-person singular simple present beats the bushes, present participle beating the bushes, simple past beat the bushes, past participle beaten the bushes or (colloquial) beat the bushes)

present singular third person beats the bushes · participle present beating the bushes · participle past beaten the bushes

  1. CanadaUSidiomaticSynonym of pound the pavement (“to campaign diligently; to seek something”).

    They started beating the bushes in search of a commercially available solvent that would aid their manufacturing but wouldn't be too horribly toxic and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

    Synonyms: pound the pavement

Synonyms & antonyms

verbSynonym of pound the pavement (“to campaign diligently; to seek something”).

Similar
pound the pavement
Also see
hit the streetspound the pavement

Origin

Both beat the bushes and scare up have figurative senses, referring to traversing the landscape seeking difficult-to-find things, that arose by extension from their senses referring to driving game out of the bush when hunting.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

beat the bushes. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beat%20the%20bushes

MLA

“beat the bushes.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beat%20the%20bushes. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beat the bushes,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beat%20the%20bushes.

Source: beat the bushes on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.