English Explanatory Dictionary

beat the bushes

English dictionary entry

Meanings

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

Word forms

beat the bushes beats the bushes beating the bushes beaten the bushes

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

pound the pavement

Related words

beat around the bush scare up
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