beast

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

2.Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden. [1913 Webster]

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.— Prov. xii. 10.[1913 Webster]

3.any animal other than a human; -- opposed to man. [1913 Webster]

'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast.— W. C. Fields.[1913 Webster]

4.Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow. [1913 Webster]

5.A game at cards similar to loo. [Obs.] --Wright. [1913 Webster]

6.A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be beaten at beast, omber, etc. [1913 Webster]

Beast royal, the lion. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Beast, Brute.

Usage: When we use these words in a figurative sense, as applicable to human beings, we think of beasts as mere animals governed by animal appetite; and of brutes as being destitute of reason or moral feeling, and governed by unrestrained passion. Hence we speak of beastly appetites; beastly indulgences, etc.; and of brutal manners; brutal inhumanity; brutal ferocity. So, also, we say of a drunkard, that he first made himself a beast, and then treated his family like a brute. [1913 Webster]