- beat breast
- beat (your) breast
to publicly pretend that you feel sad or guilty.
Managers are beating their breasts about the loss of 50 jobs, but staff suspect more redundancies are on the way.
New idioms dictionary. 2014.
beat breast
Look at other dictionaries:
beat your breast — phrase to make it obvious by your actions that you are very upset or sorry about something Everybody’s beating their breasts but nobody actually does anything. Thesaurus: to say or show that you are sorrysynonym Main entry: beat * * * beat your… … Useful english dictionary
breast-beat|ing — «BREHST BEE tihng», noun, adjective. –n. a loud, and often emotional, public display of grief, regret, or misfortune: »While inquiry into faulty judgment and poor coordination is in order, there is no ground for excessive breast beating over a… … Useful english dictionary
breast — [brest] n. [ME brest < OE breost < IE base * bhreus , to swell, sprout] 1. either of two milk secreting glands protruding from the upper, front part of a woman s body 2. a corresponding gland in a female primate 3. a corresponding… … English World dictionary
Beat — (b[=e]t), v. t. [imp. {Beat}; p. p. {Beat}, {Beaten}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Beating}.] [OE. beaten, beten, AS. be[ a]tan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. b[=o]zan. Cf. 1st {Butt}, {Button}.] 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Beat — (b[=e]t), v. t. [imp. {Beat}; p. p. {Beat}, {Beaten}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Beating}.] [OE. beaten, beten, AS. be[ a]tan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. b[=o]zan. Cf. 1st {Butt}, {Button}.] 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Beat — (b[=e]t), v. t. [imp. {Beat}; p. p. {Beat}, {Beaten}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Beating}.] [OE. beaten, beten, AS. be[ a]tan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. b[=o]zan. Cf. 1st {Butt}, {Button}.] 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Breast ironing — is a form of body modification practiced in parts of Cameroon. A pubescent girl s breasts are flattened, usually by the girl s mother, in an attempt to make her less sexually attractive to men. This practice is believed to help prevent rape and… … Wikipedia
breast-beating — breast′ beat ing n. a loud, demonstrative, and often exaggerated display of grief, remorse, or the like • Etymology: 1950–55 breast′ beat er, n … From formal English to slang
beat — vb 1 Beat, pound, pummel, thrash, buffet, baste, belabor are comparable when they mean to strike re peatedly. Beat, the usual and general word of this group, may imply no more than the simple action of repeated striking (as with one s hands or an … New Dictionary of Synonyms
beat your breast — beat (your) breast to publicly pretend that you feel sad or guilty. Managers are beating their breasts about the loss of 50 jobs, but staff suspect more redundancies are on the way … New idioms dictionary
