Also: Beat a hasty retreat
Meaning of Idiom ‘Beat a Retreat’
To beat a retreat means to quickly withdraw or reverse course; to quickly leave a place after entering it.
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Sentence Examples
“The woman, after seeing her ex-husband at the restaurant, quickly beat a retreat.”
“My girlfriend took me to meet her father. He was so mean and grumpy I beat a retreat before things got worse.”
Origin
This phrase from the 1300s was originally military in origin, referring to how the beating of drums was used as a signal for retreating from a battle. It is rarely used today, and then only figuratively.
The slang idiom beat it is based on this expression.
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