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beats me. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
beats me, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
beats me in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
beats me you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
A shortening of it beats me
Pronunciation
Phrase
beats me
- (idiomatic, as response or with indirect question) I don't know; I have no idea.
Do you have any idea what "tergiversate" means? Beats me!
Beats me how he finds out when we're goofing off.
1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:"Flowering shrubs don't thrive in the subterranean caverns from which geysers spring," suggested Bradley. Olson shook his head. "It beats me," he said.
Usage notes
- This expression is nearly always used in the present tense, first person singular, as given above.
Synonyms
Translations