beaten, ppl. a.
(ˈbiːt(ə)n)
For forms see beat v.1 Used adjectivally in many of the senses of the verb.
1. Struck with repeated blows.
| 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 124 On whom..so many..beaten breasts, and lift uppe eyes attended. 1633 P. Fletcher Elisa ii. l, Sleep beaten breast; no blows shall now molest thee. 1859 Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. II. 4 Wi' drubbens of a beaten drum. |
2. Struck or pressed by frequent feet; trodden; worn hard, bare, or plain by repeated passage. Often in fig. expressions.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. Introd. 3 A Booke of secrets given by God; to men Elect, a Beaten-Trod. 1583 Babington Commandm. 97 Had wee any feeling left within our sides, and our heartes were not altogether so hard trampled and beaten as they are. 1642 Carpenter Experience ii. vi. 221 Our beaten, customary, and daily practice. 1748 Anson Voy. ii. xii. 263 They had marched..about ten miles in a beaten road. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 86 ¶3 The imitator treads a beaten walk. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §9. 64 We were far from the beaten track. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. viii. (1875) 318 Subjects out of the beaten line of the reading and thought of their day. |
† 3. Well-worn, trite. Obs.
| a 1543 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 98 These also are knowen and beaten sentences alleadged by Bishop Iewell. 1642 R. Carpenter Experience iv. ix. 159 If God had talked to them..in a worne and beaten phrase. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 289 ¶6 One of the most ancient and most beaten Morals. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope (1782) I. iii. 102 This Essay..on a beaten subject. |
† 4. Of persons: Inured to (anything), experienced. Obs.
| a 1593 H. Smith Serm. (1866) I. 220 Rehoboam's sage and beaten counsellors. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks K (1621) 870 An armie..most strong and puissant, old beaten souldiors almost throughout it. 1611 Cotgr., Fauls rompu, a subtill fellow, one that hath bin much beaten to the world. a 1639 S. Ward Serm. (1862) 117 (D.) A beaten politician of our times. c 1700 Gentl. Instruc. (1782) 522 (D.) A man beaten to the trade may wrangle..better. |
5. Worked by hammering, as metal. a. Hammered into thin foil or leaf; shaped by the hammer, as repoussé work.
| c 1300 in Wright Lyric P. ix. 35 Hire gurdel of bete gold is al. 1483 Cath. Angl. 30 Betyn gold, braccea. 1611 Bible Numb. viii. 4 Vnto the flowres thereof was beaten worke. 1659 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 169 The Earls of Carstile and Holland, Ambassadors, were both clad in Beaten-Silver. 1760 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) III. 591 Fine ladies in beaten silver, and glittering with jewels. 1879 C. Hibbs in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 263/1 It resembles, therefore, beaten or repoussé work. |
b. Hence, because the purest gold is the most malleable: Fine, of pure quality; also fig.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings x. 16 Two hundreth speares of beaten golde. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 103 Sincere and pure beaten virtue, like the gold of the first age. |
† c. Overlaid, inlaid, embossed, damascened with gold or other precious material; embroidered. Obs.
| a 1300 K. Alis. 1518 An ymage was therynne, Y-beten al with gold fyne. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 78 Enbrawded & beten wyth þe best gemmes. c 1400 Roland 287 Baners beten with gold. 1470 Harding Chron. cxcv. ii, The lordes..w{supt} penouns proudly bette. 1611 L. Barrey Ram Alley iii. in Dodsley (1780) V. 452 [Clad] In beaten velvet. 1641 Baker Chron. (1679) 236/1 A red fiery Dragon, beaten upon white and green Sarcenet. |
6. Pounded small; whipped up to uniform consistency.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings v. 11 Twentye quarters of beaten oyle. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 15 Beaten Glasse is commonly reckoned among Poisons. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 295 Season it with beaten mace. |
7. Conquered, defeated.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 95 One of the beaten syde, Ran home. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 94 The beaten army had now lost all the appearance of an army. |
8. Overcome by hard work, exhausted. dead-beaten: exhausted as if to death. Cf. beat ppl. a.
| 1681 Temple Mem. iii. Wks. 1731 I. 331 Use of an old beaten Horse. 1854 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 459/2 At the next post-house the unhappy animals [post-horses] are left dead beaten. 1878 H. Smart Play or Pay v. 89 There is little object in going on with a beaten horse. |
9. Systematically scoured for game.
| 1883 Pall Mall G. 1 Oct. 2/1 A pheasant..from a beaten cover. |
10. With prec. n. in instrumental relation, as weather-beaten, wave-beaten, etc. See beat v.1 6.
| 1579 E. K. in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Jan. Argt., His..winter beaten flocke. 1596 Drayton Bar. Wars Ded. 1 Anchor of my poore Tempest-beaten State. 1620 Quarles Jonah (1638) 27 The weather-beaten Ship. 1873 Black Pr. Thule 1 A desolate waste of rain-beaten sea. |
11. With adv., as beaten down, dejected, subdued.
| 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. xxvii. 176 The beaten-down consciousness. |
12. Special Combs.: beaten biscuit U.S., a small hard biscuit, the dough for which is thoroughly beaten and frequently folded; beaten zone, the area of ground struck by gun-fire; also transf.
| 1876 M. N. F. Henderson Pract. Cooking 69 Little machines..for the purpose of making beaten biscuit. 1902 G. C. Eggleston Dorothy South 312 Slipping a surreptitious beaten biscuit into his pocket. 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 67 Beaten Zone. 1962 Times 10 Oct. 13/7 Sticks are infinitely more efficient than stones for knocking down conkers: their ‘beaten zone’, as it were, is greater. |