▪ I. beast, n.
(biːst)
Forms: 3–6 beste, best, beest(e, 4–6 Sc. beist, 6–7 beaste, (6 bieste, 7 beise), 6– beast. (pl. dial. beas(e, beeas(e, beass.)
[a. OF. beste:—L. bestia. The earliest use of the word was to translate L. animal, in which it took the place of OE. deór, just as it was, in this sense, subseq. replaced by animal itself.]
I. Literal senses.
1. A living being, an animal. (Used to translate Gr. ζῷον, or L. animal, esp. in versions of the Bible. Now restricted in literary use as in sense 2; but still widely applied in dialect and colloquial use, including e.g. newts, insects, centipedes.) † a. In early times, explicitly including man. Obs.
b. In later times, applied to the lower animals, as distinct from man.
| c 1220 Hali Meid. 25 Beastes þat dumbe neb habbeð. a 1300 Cursor M. 6039 Þan sent drightin a litel beist [locust]. Ibid. 700 Þe nedder..was mast wis of ani best. 1493 Festivall (1515) 3 b, All the fysshes and beestes in the see. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xi. 3 The Bey is but a small beast amonge the foules, yet is hir frute exceadinge swete. 1611 Bible Rev. iv. 6 Foure beastes full of eyes before and behinde. 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 931 Nor know I the little Beast [Hornet] it self. 1771 Phil. Trans. LXI. 240 Monoculi, some of which had their ovaria full of eggs, and others of little live beasts. 1827 Moore Periwink. & Soc. Wks. (1862) 529 Of all the beasts that ever were born, Your Locust most delights in corn. 1875 Buckland Log-Bk. 91 These Cod, poor Beasts. Mod. dial. There's a little beast crawling up your back! |
| a. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. vi. 27 Axest not me quod I. wheþir þat [man] be a resonable best mortel. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. III. 367 Al þing þat haþ lif and felynge is i-cleped a beste. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health clxxxii, A man or a woman, which be resonable beastes. |
| b. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 34 There would this Monster make a man: any strange beast there, makes a man. 1780 Harris Philol. Enq. (1841) 538 To render the nature of man odious, and the nature of beasts amiable. |
c. The animal nature (in man).
| 1667 Decay Chr. Piety ix. §9. 302 Those advantages which may..exalt the man, and depress the beast in us. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxviii. 27 Move upward, working out the beast, And let the ape and tiger die. 1895 W. D. Howells My Literary Passions xvi. 110 The base of the mind is bestial, and so far the beast in us has insisted upon having its full say. 1948 J. Thurber (title) The Beast in Me and Other Animals. |
2. a. A quadruped (or animal popularly regarded as such), as distinguished from birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, etc., as well as from man. (Now the ordinary literary use.)
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 416 Ȝe..ne schulen habben no best, bute kat one. c 1360 Deus Caritas in E.E.P. (1862) 127 Lord þou madest . boþe foul and best. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 74 As lion is the king of bestes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 151 In the sixth daye..all beestes were create. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence xxviii, Compare them vnto birdes and beastes. 1611 Bible 1 Kings iv. 33 Hee spake also of beasts, and of foule, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 1691 Ray Creation (1722) 21 Animate bodies are divided into four great genera or orders: Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Insects. 1849 Marryat Valerie vi, Like the bat, they are neither bird nor beast. |
b. spec. An animal of the chase; fourfooted game.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 375 Þe nywe forest..he..astored yt wel myd bestys. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xvii, Sethun brittuns he the best, As venesun in forest. 1539 Act 31 Hen. VIII, v. A chase..for..feeding of beastes of venery. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. (1597) 180 They feede Mongst Beasts of chace. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 211 Then Toils for Beasts, and Lime for Birds were found. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Beasts of Chase, in our statute-books are five; the buck, doe, fox, martin, and roe. Beasts of the forest are, the hart, hind, hare, boar, and wolf. Beasts and fowls of the warren are, the hare, coney, pheasant, and partridge. |
c. wild beast: an animal not domesticated, formerly
esp. a beast of the chase, now
esp. a ferocious animal from a foreign land;
= L.
fera,
Gr. θηρίον.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 376 Men ne dorste..wylde best nyme noȝt, Hare ne wylde swyn. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xviii. 28 And woneden in wildernesse · among wilde bestes. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 228 Ile..leaue thee to the mercy of wilde beasts. 1591 Spenser Daphn. xviii, And of the race, that all wild beastes do feare. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 758 Whom ev'n the savage Beasts had spar'd, they kill'd. 1833 Marryat P. Simple ix, To see the wild beasts fed at Mr. Polito's menagerie. |
3. A domesticated animal owned and used by man, as part of his farm ‘stock’ or cattle [F.
bestiaux,
bétail]; at first including sheep, goats, etc., but
a. gradually more or less restricted to the bovine kind; and now chiefly applied by farmers, graziers, etc. to fatting cattle. (In this sense there is also a collective plural
beast.)
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 58 Ȝif eni unwrie put were, and best feolle þer inne. a 1300 Cursor M. 6137 Ta your beistes wit yow bun. c 1450 Merlin 3 This riche man hadde grete plente of bestes and of othir richesse. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (1847) Introd. 9 Sometime the wolfe our beastes doth devour. 1704 Baily Dict. Rustic. s.v. Common, Which Common must be taken with Beasts commonable, as Horses, Oxen, Kine, and Sheep. 1882 Rossetti Ball. & Sonn. 87 I am Berold the butcher's son, Who slays the beasts in Rouen Town. |
| a. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. (1534) G ij, Beastes alone, nor horses alone, nor shepe alone..wyll not eate a pasture euen. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen xxix. 90 There was spent in his house a fat Beise, and a half, within the space of three days. 1720 Lond. Gaz. No. 5880/5 Robert Watson, late of Uttoxeter..Dealer in Beasts. 1807 J. Stagg Poems 63 To th' fells they druive beath bease and sweyne. 1863 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Beast, an..animal of the Ox kind—The plural..is beeas or beas; applied to Cows or fatting-stock collectively. 1865 Daily Tel. 22 Aug. 6/5 One half..is devoted to ‘beasts’; the other half to sheep, pigs, and calves, none of which creatures are ‘beasts’ according to the natural history of the Caledonian-road. 1884 W. Sussex Gaz. 25 Sept. (Advt.) The Live Stock comprises the valuable herd of Sussex Beast, including cows, heifers, bulls and steers. |
b. An animal used in riding, driving, etc., as the horse and ass; a ‘beast of burden,’ a ‘yoke beast,’ a draught animal. [In some parts of England,
beast in the
sing. means
spec. ‘horse,’ while the
pl. beasts,
beastès,
beass means ‘oxen.’]
| a 1300 Cursor M. 14963 Þar sal yee find an ass beist. 1388 Wyclif Luke x. 34 And leid hym on his beest [1382 hors], and ledde in to an ostrie. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xi. (1539) 26 His werke bestis to his plough. 1529 Frith Ep. Chr. Reader Wks. (1829) 462 His Son..was made our beast, bearing our sins upon his own back. 1611 Bible Luke x. 34 And bound vp his wounds, powring in oile and wine, and set him on his owne beast. 1803 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. II. 199 Coolies and bullocks and every animal that can be procured of the description of a beast of burthen. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxv, There sall nane o' my gear gang on your beast's back. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 374 Travellers..compelled to alight and lead their beasts. |
II. fig. and
transf. 4. a. A human being under the sway of animal propensities.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5065 No such beeste [a harlot] To be loved is not worthy. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 5 O powerfull Loue, that in some respects makes a Beast a Man: in som other, a Man a beast. 1647 Sanderson Serm. II. 215 All histories afford us strange examples..of voluptuous beasts. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 2 ¶2 Till Morn' sends stagg'ring Home a Drunken Beast. 1845 Hood Open Quest. xv, Better..spend a leisure hour amongst the brutes, Than make a beast of his own self on Sunday. |
b. the beast with two backs, a man and woman in the act of copulation. (
Cf. Rabelais's
faire la bête à deux dos.)
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. i. 117 Your Daughter and the Moore are making the Beast with two backs. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais i. iii. 18 These two did often times do the two backed beast together. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Beast with two backs, a man and woman in the act of copulation. 1921 A. Huxley Crome Yellow x. 94 There they were, Anne and Gombauld, moving together as though they were a single supple creature. The beast with two backs. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 546 The beast that has two backs at midnight. 1950 Auden Enchafèd Flood (1951) iii. 115 It is possible to attach too much importance..to the sexual symbolism of the Whale as being at once the vagina dentata and the Beast with two backs or the parents-in-bed. |
5. a. ‘A brutal, savage man; a man acting in any manner unworthy of a reasonable creature.’ J. In earlier usage, often connoting stupidity or folly (
cf. Fr. bête); in modern phraseology opprobriously employed to express disgust or merely aversion. Now
freq. in weaker sense.
| c 1210 Leg. Kath. 2067 Hwet medschipe makeð þe, þu bittre balefule beast! 1393 Gower Conf. I. 202 O beste of helle, in what guise Hast thou deserved for to deie. 1594 R. Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) He that goes a beast to Rome, returns a beast againe. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 137 Oh you beast, Oh faithlesse Coward, oh dishonest wretch. 1723 M{supc}Ward Earn. Contend. 151 (Jam.) Putting the Beast upon ourselves, for having been so base. 1772 Nicholls in Gray's Corr. (1843) 170 It is this moment only that I have received nine letters..from that cursed beast Belloni's Abbé. 1841 Warren Ten Thous. Year i. v, Mr. Sharpey..is coming down from dinner, directly, the beast! 1875 R. Broughton Nancy ii. 12 (1875) ‘You beast’ cried I, in good nervous English, turning sharply round. 1899 Kipling Stalky 49 He's an awfully sensitive beast. 1923 D. L. Sayers Whose Body? i. 13 I'll..try and console the poor little beast. |
b. fig. Applied to things; also in
colloq. phr. a beast of a{ddd}: an abominable or disgusting{ddd}, a beastly{ddd}.
| 1862 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 13 One thing shall I rejoice at,— my own bed,—for this husk thing we sleep on is a beast. 1878 W. S. Gilbert Pinafore 1, It's a beast of a name. 1891 H. C. Bunner Zadoc Pine 196 I've got to stay and finish my grind. It's a beast. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 4 May 2/2 I've had a beast of a time. |
† 6. Applied to the devil (the ‘old serpent’ or ‘dragon’) and evil spirits.
Obs.| c 1220 St. Marher. 11 Hu ha..þæt bittre best makede to bersten. a 1300 Cursor M. 12954 Bot herdili he [þe warlau] yode him nerr, Qua herd euer best sua bald. c 1305 Miracle St. Jas. 57 in E.E.P. 59 Þu liþere best oure leuedi seide. |
7. the Beast (
fig.): Antichrist, or the Antichristian power. (From the Apocalypse of
St. John.) Phr.
the mark of the beast: see
mark n.1 11 c.
| 1382 Wyclif Rev. xiii. 18 He that hath vndirstonding, acounte the noumbre of the beest. 1382 [see mark n.1 11 c]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 Wonders whiche that beest the Antechryst (as Saynt Paule sayth) shall shewe. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1265/2 They..which suffer death vnder the beast, for confession of Christs religion. 1649 Owen Serm. Wks. 1851 VIII. 235 God will bring the followers after the beast to destruction. 1833 M. Edgeworth Thoughts on Bores in Tales & Novels XVII. 327 Lord Chesterfield set the mark of the beast, as he called it, on certain vulgarisms in pronunciation. 1847 J. Bates Seventh Day Sabbath (ed. 2) 59 Is it not clear that the first day of the week for the Sabbath or holy day is a mark of the beast. 1847 E. G. White in J. White Word to ‘Little Flock’ 19 All we were required to do, was to give up God's Sabbath, and keep the Pope's, and then we should have the mark of the Beast. 1849 Cumming God in Hist. (1851) 115 In 1807 the ten kings or horns (Britain excepted..) joined in desolating ‘the Beast.’ 1874 [see mark n.1 11 c]. c 1875 Calverley Fly-leaves, Leave the number of the beast to puzzle Doctor Cumming? 1888 E. G. White Great Controversy xxv. 449 They will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—‘the mark of the beast’. 1891 Kipling Life's Handicap 208 (title) The mark of the beast. 1954 A. S. C. Ross in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen LV. 22 At the beginning of the century many slang phrases were used to designate non-gentlemen e.g...showing (or similar introduction) the mark of the beast. |
III. In
Card-playing. [
orig. beste as in 17th c. French, then englished as
beaste,
beast, pronounced (
beːst), a pronunciation still retained by some who spell it
baste,
bast; but more usually spelt and pronounced as in the other senses.
Mod.F.
bête.]
8. a. An obsolete game at cards, resembling the modern
Nap.
b. A penalty at this game; also at Ombre and Quadrille.
[The name
Ombre is derived from
Sp. Hombre man. At Ombre, the one who undertakes the game has to beat each of the other two; if he fails, he is said to be beasted, and pays forfeit to the pool; hence it has been suggested that having failed to maintain himself as
Hombre or
man, he becomes
beast. In the earlier quotations it occurs only along with Ombre.]
| 1668 R. Lestrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 97 Spend whole Nights at Beste or Ombre with my Lady Pen-Tweezel. 1674 Cotton Compl. Gamester (1725) 97 Beast..called by the French, La Bett. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1007 These at Beste and L'Ombre wooe And play for loue and money too. 1734 R. Seymour Compl. Gamester (1739) 22 The Beaste is made whenever he who undertakes the game (that is to say the Ombre) does not win. Ibid. 23 Whoever Renounces several times in a Deal suffers a Beaste for every Renounce. Ibid. All the Beastes that are made in one Deal, must be together upon the Board and be played for the next. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Ombre, The oversights and irregularities committed in the course of the game, are called beastes. [See also baste n.1] |
IV. Comb. a. objective
gen. with verbal
n. or agent-noun, as
beast-baiting,
beast-subduer;
b. similative, as
beast-blindness;
c. attrib., as
beast-body,
beast-dance,
beast-epic (
cf. G.
tier-epos),
beast-fable,
beast-fight,
beast-figure,
beast-hide,
beast-kind,
beast-market,
beast-oblation,
beast-poetry,
beast-saga,
beast-tale. Also
beast-fly, the gad-fly;
beast-gates (
north. dial.), pastures where beasts may go;
beastman local, a cattleman.
| 1606 Holland Sueton. 262 Wardens..who were to exhibite..*Beastbaitings and stage playes. |
| 1802 Southey Thalaba x. xxxiii, Live With such *beast-blindness in the present joy. |
| 1884 Tennyson Becket 93 This *beast-body That God has plunged my soul in. |
| 1900 J. C. Lawson in Ann. Brit. Sch. Athens VI. 125 A *beast-dance in Scyros. |
| 1889 J. Jacobs Fables of Aesop I. 159 The so-called *Beast-Epic of Reynard the Fox. 1908 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XXIII. 497 There was the distinctively medieval set of [animal] stories, told because of their own intrinsic power of affording amusement, to which is generally given the name ‘beast epic’. Of this..set of beast tales..which is so well represented in the branches of the French Roman de Renard, English offers few specimens. 1924 Ibid. XXXIX. 764 Chaucer's readers were educated to expect satirical hits and some more than didactic pieces of allegory in their beast epic and beast fable. 1932 E. Weekley Words & Names ix. 121 The beast-epic obviously belongs to very primitive races. |
| 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. i. 10 Stories known as *Beast Fables. |
| 1933 E. K. Chambers Eng. Folk-Play 215, I am inclined to think that there must have been an early variant of the ludus, in which a single *beast-figure was alone represented. |
| 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 935 This *Beast-fly is in Latine called Asilum. |
| 1566 Richmond Wills (1853) 185 The *beast gates..uppon the more and in the feild onely except. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 507 When the haires of *beast-hides haue bin soked therewith. |
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm, At the end of all these *Beast-houses..you shall appoint a Dog-house. |
| 1311 in N. & Q. (1963) July 250/2 *Bestemon. 1899 Yorkshire Post 26 Dec., Wanted, beastman,..on farm, near Hull. 1921 Dict. Occupational Terms (1927) §22, Cattleman, beastman, byreman. |
| 1634 Brereton Trav. (1844) 52 A charter for a *beast-market. |
| 1885 Weekly Times 2 Oct. 18/4 Trade today in the beast-market has been almost at a standstill. |
| 1888 J. Jacobs Fables of Bidpai p. xxxix, Benfey..claims a Western (Greek) origin for *beast-tales in which animals act ‘as sich’. 1951 Dickins & Wilson Early M.E. Texts 62 The comparative lack of beast tales in ME is particularly surprising when contrasted with their popularity abroad. |
Add:
[II.] [5.] c. A sex offender.
Cf. nonce n.2 Prison slang.
| 1989 J. Morton Lowspeak 22/2 Beast,..a sex offender; the use is common amongst prisoners in Lancashire who do not know the term nonce. 1989 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 8 The arrival of a police van at a prison might often be accompanied by comments such as ‘a couple of beasts for you’, with the result that the prisoners are immediately identified. 1990 Guardian Weekly 29 Apr. 21/1 It has not been an easy fortnight for nonces, monsters and beasts, the sexual offenders who are on the Rule. 1995 Guardian 28 Feb. ii 2/3 When I heard what happened I felt a bit rotten... Then I heard he was a beast, and I felt better... It might sound rotten, but I don't feel sorry for him. I would rather have a murderer on the loose than a child molester or a pervert. |
▪ II. beast, v. (
biːst)
[f. prec. n.] See also
baste v.
4 † 1. trans. To make a beast of, treat as a beast.
| 1646 S. Bolton Arraignm. Err. 151 And having thus beasted men, they [Papists] say to them..‘You are..in no way able to judge of Questions of truth.’ |
2. pass. In the game of Ombre: To fail to win the game (said of the Ombre), or to incur a forfeit for breaking the rules.
| 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. v, We will not be beasted at this bout, for I have got one trick. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull in Swift's Wks. 1824 VI. 163 Lewis Baboon attempted to play a game solo in clubs, and was beasted. 1768 Acad. of Play 83 He who looks at the cards that remain in the Stock is beasted. 1811 E. Nares Thinks I II. 136 Not being able to save her from being beasted. |
▪ III. [beast, v. ‘To hunt for beasts,’ which modern dictionaries have inserted each from its predecessor, is a figment founded on a grotesque misreading of Spenser's
Amoretti Epigr. ii.:
With that [
i.e. Dian's dart] Love wounded my Loves hart, But Diane [wounded] beasts with Cupids dart.