Meanings
verbbeat to (third-person singular simple present beats to, present participle beating to, simple past beat to, past participle beaten to)
present singular third person beats to · participle present beating to · participle past beaten to
- transitiveTo arrive (somewhere) more quickly (than someone else); to succeed (at something) more quickly (than someone else).
I wanted to gather up all the pinecones, but you beat me to it!
1 more example
Zumbetel wanted to beat Yalpatel to launching the planet's first pocket-sized satellite phone.
Origin
Shortening of beat to the punch.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish ubiegać, ubiec
- ubiegaćTranslations
- ubiecTranslations
- uprzedzaćTranslations
- uprzedzićTranslations
- wyprzedzaćTranslations
- wyprzedzićTranslations
Spanish atrasar, ganar la delantera
- atrasarTranslations
- ganar la delanteraTranslations
- adelantarseTranslations
- adelantarTranslations
- anticiparseTranslations
Cite this entry
APA
beat to. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beat%20to
MLA
“beat to.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beat%20to. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beat to,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beat%20to.
Source: beat to on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.