to beat about the bush
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. [1913 Webster]
The men of the city . . . beat at the door.— Judges. xix. 22.[1913 Webster]
2.To move with pulsation or throbbing. [1913 Webster]
A thousand hearts beat happily.— Byron.[1913 Webster]
3.To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. [1913 Webster]
Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]
They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.— Longfellow.[1913 Webster]
The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.— Jonah iv. 8.[1913 Webster]
Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]
4.To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic] [1913 Webster]
To still my beating mind.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
5.(Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. [1913 Webster]
6.To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. [1913 Webster]
7.(Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. [1913 Webster]
8.(Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison. [1913 Webster]
A beating wind (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress.
To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. --Addison.
To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously.
To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag.
To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.
To beat the rap, to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent. [1913 Webster]
1.A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest. [1913 Webster]
Note: This was the original sense of the word, as in the Dutch bosch, a wood, and was so used by Chaucer. In this sense it is extensively used in the British colonies, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in Australia and Canada; as, to live or settle in the bush. [1913 Webster]
2.A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs. [1913 Webster]
To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers.— Gascoigne.[1913 Webster]
3.A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines. [1913 Webster]
4.A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself. [1913 Webster]
If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
5.(Hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox. [1913 Webster]
To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting.
Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1.
Bush buck, or Bush goat (Zool.), a beautiful South African antelope (Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species.
Bush cat (Zool.), the serval. See Serval.
Bush chat (Zool.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family.
Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary.
Bush harrow (Agric.) See under Harrow.
Bush hog (Zool.), a South African wild hog (Potamoch[oe]rus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog.
Bush master (Zool.), a venomous snake (Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu.
Bush pea (Bot.), a variety of pea that needs to be bushed.
Bush shrike (Zool.), a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America.
Bush tit (Zool.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. Psaltriparus minimus inhabits California. [1913 Webster]