beast

English Online Dictionary. What means beast‎? What does beast mean?

English

Alternative forms

• beest (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English beeste, beste, from Old French beste (French bête), from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”); many cognates – see bēstia.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /biːst/
• Rhymes: -iːst

Noun

beast (plural beasts)

2. An animal, especially a large or dangerous land vertebrate.
   2. (chiefly in Commonwealth English, more specifically) A domestic animal, especially a bovine farm animal.
   3. (often collective) All non-human animals seen as a group.

   5. A monstrously unusual and dangerous animal.

      Synonym: monster

3. A person who behaves in a violent, antisocial or uncivilized manner.
4. (slang) Anything regarded as larger or more powerful than one of its normal size or strength.

5. (slang) Someone who is particularly impressive, especially athletically or physically.
6. (prison slang, derogatory) A sex offender.
7. (figuratively) Something unpleasant and difficult.
8. A thing or matter, especially a difficult or unruly one.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• belluine (suppletive adjective)

Verb

beast (third-person singular simple present beasts, present participle beasting, simple past and past participle beasted)

1. (British, military) To impose arduous exercises, either as training or as punishment.
2. (Scotland, slang, transitive) To engage in sexual intercourse with, particularly in an illicit context.

Adjective

beast (comparative more beast, superlative most beast)

1. (slang, chiefly Midwestern and northeastern US) great; excellent; powerful

Anagrams

• Beats, baste, Sebat, besat, beats, abets, Bates, esbat, betas, bates, tabes

Middle English

Noun

beast

1. Alternative form of beeste

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English beeste (“livestock”), from Old French beste, from Latin bestia. Cognate with West English beäst.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛːst/

Noun

beast (plural beasthès)

1. 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 & 25