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beast. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English beeste, beste, from Old French beste (French bête), from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”); many cognates – see bēstia.
Pronunciation
Noun
beast (plural beasts)
- An animal, especially a large or dangerous land vertebrate.
1611, “Leviticus 11:3”, in King James Version:Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
- (chiefly in Commonwealth English, more specifically) A domestic animal, especially a bovine farm animal.
1908 September 21, “The fattening beast”, in Mark Lane Express Agricultural Journal, page 340:[…] it always had the making of a fine beast about it, but up to the time I had it up here in a stall by itself it did not get the chance to make any headway [ie, fatten], all its mates were down on it and it never seemed to fill itself. […] A big framed beast takes a lot of food — expensive food at that [—] to keep it doing […]
1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm , London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together.
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’
- (often collective) All non-human animals seen as a group.
Language is what separates man and beast.
- A monstrously unusual and dangerous animal.
- Synonym: monster
- A person who behaves in a violent, antisocial or uncivilized manner.
- (slang) Anything regarded as larger or more powerful than one of its normal size or strength.
- That is a beast of a stadium.
- The subwoofer that comes with this set of speakers is a beast.
- (slang) Someone who is particularly impressive, especially athletically or physically.
- (prison slang, derogatory) A sex offender.
1994, Elaine Player, Michael Jenkins, Prisons After Woolf: Reform Through Riot, page 190:Shouts had been heard: 'We're coming to kill you, beasts.' In desperation, Rule 43s had tried to barricade their doors […]
1994, Adam Sampson, Acts of Abuse: Sex Offenders And the Criminal Justice System, page 83:For many prisoners and in many prisons, antipathy towards 'nonces' or 'beasts' is little more than an idea […]
- (figuratively) Something unpleasant and difficult.
2000, Tom Clancy, The Bear and the Dragon, Berkley, published 2001, →ISBN, page 905:[…] Even unopposed, the natural obstacles are formidable, and defending his line of advance will be a beast of a problem."
2006, Heather Burt, Adam's Peak, Dundurn Press, published 2006, →ISBN, page 114:He'd be in the hospital a few days — broken collarbone, a cast on his arm, a beast of a headache — but fine.
- A thing or matter, especially a difficult or unruly one.
2003, John Derbyshire, Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problems in Mathematics:Now, the nucleus of a heavy element is a very peculiar beast.
2010, Rob Chapman, A Very Irregular Head: The Life of Syd Barrett, page 65:'Lucy Leave', also known as 'Lucy Lea in Blue Tights', is a stranger beast altogether. Musically it is as derivative as everything else the band was playing at this time
2012, Kylee Swenson Gordon, Electronic Musician Presents the Recording Secrets Behind 50 Great Albums:But Wasting Light, recorded analog to tape (API 1608 32track, two Studer 827s) with no computers, not even to mix or master, is an entirely different beast.
2017, Riley Sager, Final Girls, page 141:Murder is a stranger beast than suicide, although the end result of both is the same.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
non-human animal
- Albanian: bishë (sq) n
- Amharic: አውሬ (ʾäwre)
- Arabic: وَحْش m (waḥš)
- Armenian: կենդանի (hy) (kendani), (wild) գազան (hy) (gazan)
- Asturian: bestia (ast), fiera (ast)
- Atong (India): mat
- Bashkir: хайуан (xaywan)
- Basque: aberetzar
- Belarusian: звер m (zvjer), жывёла (be) f (žyvjóla)
- Bulgarian: звяр (bg) (zvjar), живо́тно (bg) (živótno)
- Carpathian Rusyn: звірь m (zvirʹ)
- Catalan: bèstia (ca) f, fera (ca) f
- Cebuano: mananap
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 四足獸/四足兽 (sì zú shòu), 獸/兽 (zh) (shòu), 野獸/野兽 (zh) (yěshòu)
- Chukchi: гынник (gynnik)
- Czech: zvíře (cs) n, bestie f, živočich (cs) m
- Danish: bæst (da) n, vilddyr n, dyr (da) n
- Dutch: beest (nl) n, wild dier n, dier (nl) n
- Esperanto: besto (eo)
- Estonian: elajas (et)
- Finnish: elukka (fi); peto (fi)
- French: bête (fr) f, bête sauvage f
- Georgian: მხეცი (mxeci), ცხოველი (cxoveli)
- German: Tier (de) n, Bestie (de) f
- Gothic: 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍃 n (dius)
- Greek: τέρας (el) n (téras), θηρίο (el) n (thirío)
- Ancient: θήρ m (thḗr), θηρίον n (thēríon)
- Haitian Creole: bèt
- Hebrew: חַיָּה (he) f (ḥayyá), בְּהֵמָה (he) f (behemá)
- Higaonon: langgam
- Hindi: वहश (hi) m (vahaś), जानवर (hi) m (jānvar), हैवान (hi) m (haivān), जंतु (hi) m (jantu), मृग (hi) m (mŕg)
- Hungarian: vadállat (hu), bestia (hu), dög (hu)
- Ido: bestio (io)
- Irish: beithíoch m
- Istriot: bies'cia f
- Italian: bestia (it) f, belva (it) f
- Japanese: 野獣 (ja) (やじゅう, yajū) (wild beast), 猛獣 (ja) (もうじゅう, mōjū) (savage beast), 獣 (ja) (けもの, kemono)
- Kaingang: mĩg
- Kapampangan: ulimo
- Kashmiri: جانور (jānōr)
- Kazakh: хайуан (xaiuan)
- Korean: 짐승 (ko) (jimseung), 야수(野獸) (ko) (yasu)
- Latgalian: zviers m, dzeivnīks m, žeivots m
- Latin: bēstia (la) f, fera (la) f
- Latvian: dzīvnieks (lv) m, zvērs (lv) m
- Lithuanian: žvėris m
- Macedonian: ѕвер m (dzver), животно (mk) n (životno)
- Mari:
- Eastern Mari: янлык (janlyk)
- Middle French: beste
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: ан (mn) (an), араатан (mn) (araatan)
- Nahuatl: tecuani (nah)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: beist (no) n
- Occitan: bèstia (oc) f, fèra (oc) f
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: звѣрь m (zvěrĭ)
- Old East Slavic: звѣрь m (zvěrĭ)
- Old English: dēor n
- Old French: beste f
- Ottoman Turkish: حیوان (hayvan)
- Pashto: ژوي (ps)
- Persian: دد (fa) (dad)
- Plautdietsch: Tia n
- Polish: zwierzę (pl) n, bestia (pl) f
- Portuguese: fera (pt) f, besta (pt) f
- Punjabi: ਹੈਵਾਨ m (haivān)
- Romanian: bestie (ro), fiară (ro)
- Russian: зверь (ru) m (zverʹ), живо́тное (ru) n (živótnoje), тварь (ru) f (tvarʹ), бе́стия (ru) f (béstija)
- Scottish Gaelic: ainmhidh (gd) m, beathach m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: зве̑р m, звије̑р m, чу̏довӣште n, живо̀тиња f, зверка f, звијерка f
- Roman: zver (sh) f, zvijer (sh) f, čȕdovīšte (sh) n, živòtinja (sh) f, zverka f, zvijerka f
- Slovak: zviera n, zver f, šelma (sk) f, živočích (sk) m
- Slovene: zver (sl) f, žival (sl) f
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: zwěrje n
- Upper Sorbian: zwěrjo n
- Spanish: bestia (es) f
- Swahili: nunda class 9/10
- Swedish: best (sv) c
- Tagalog: halimaw
- Tajik: дад (dad), дарранда (darranda)
- Telugu: జంతువు (te) (jantuvu), మృగము (te) (mr̥gamu)
- Ukrainian: звір (uk) m (zvir), твари́на (uk) f (tvarýna)
- Volapük: nim (vo), lunim, bestaf
- Western Panjabi: حیوان m (hyvān)
- Yiddish: בעסטיע f (bestye)
|
violent/antisocial person
- Albanian: bishë (sq) n
- Arabic: مُتَوَحِّش (ar) m (mutawaḥḥiš)
- Armenian: անասուն (hy) (anasun), գազան (hy) (gazan)
- Catalan: bèstia (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 畜生 (zh) (chùshēng), 兇暴而殘忍的人/凶暴而残忍的人, 凶暴而残忍[[]]的人 (xiōngbào ér cánrěn de rén), 禽獸/禽兽 (zh) (qínshòu)
- Czech: bestie f
- Dutch: beest (nl) n
- Finnish: hirviö (fi), peto (fi); moukka (fi)
- German: Unmensch (de), Bestie (de) f, Biest (de) n
- Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌱𐌹𐌰𐍂𐌹 n (unbiari)
- Greek: κτήνος (el) n (ktínos), ζώο (el) n (zóo), τέρας (el) n (téras)
- Hebrew: חַיָּה (he) f (ḥayyá), בְּהֵמָה (he) f (behemá)
- Hindi: पशु (hi) m (paśu)
- Hungarian: vadállat (hu), állat (hu)
- Indonesian: buas (id)
- Japanese: 獣 (ja) (けもの, kemono), けだもの (ja) (kedamono)
- Latin: bēstia (la) f, ferus (la)
- Maori: nau(w)hea
- Ottoman Turkish: حیوان (hayvan)
- Polish: bestia (pl) f, bydlak (pl) m, bydlę (pl) n
- Portuguese: fera (pt) f, besta (pt) f
- Russian: монстр (ru) m (monstr), зверь (ru) m (zverʹ), чудо́вище (ru) n (čudóvišče), скоти́на (ru) f (skotína)
- Scottish Gaelic: brùid f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: зве̑р m, звије̑р m, чу̏довӣште n
- Roman: zver (sh) f, zvijer (sh) f, čȕdovīšte (sh) n
- Slovene: zver (sl) f, zverina (sl) f
- Spanish: bestia (es) f, animal (es) m, salvaje (es) m or f
- Swahili: nunda class 9/10
- Telugu: పశువు (te) (paśuvu)
- Yiddish: בעסטיע f (bestye)
|
large or impressive thing or structure
slang: someone who is particularly impressive, especially athletically or physically
prison slang: sex offender
something unpleasant and difficult
difficult or unruly thing
Translations to be checked
See also
Verb
beast (third-person singular simple present beasts, present participle beasting, simple past and past participle beasted)
- (British, military) to impose arduous exercises, either as training or as punishment.
- (Scotland, slang) to engage in sexual intercourse, particularly in an illicit context
- That teacher is under investigation for beasting wee 'uns.
Adjective
beast (comparative more beast, superlative most beast)
- (slang, chiefly Midwestern and northeastern US) great; excellent; powerful
1999, Jason Chue, “AMD K6-2 350mhz, FIC VA503+, LGS 64mb PC100 sdram”, in jaring.pcbase (Usenet):There is another type from Siemens which is the HYB 39S64XXX(AT/ATL) -8B version (notice the "B" and the end) which is totally beast altogether.
2012, Katie McGarry, Pushing the Limits, page 37:Translation: a piece of crap, but the rest of the car was totally beast.
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
beast
- Alternative form of beeste
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English beeste (“livestock”), from Old French beste, from Latin bestia.
Pronunciation
Noun
beast (plural beasthès)
- beast
1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:Hornta beast.- A horned beast.
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 47