Beat (someone) To It

Meaning of Idiom ‘Beat (someone) To It’

To do get ahead of someone and do something before they can do it or to obtain something before they can attain it.

Example Of Use

“Hey, I wanted the last ice cream bar,” said Jane. “Looks like I beat you to it,” said John.

“He tried to break the story to the press to make us look bad, but we beat him to it.”

“There was only one donut left and Frank beat Harry to the box.”

Origin

Used since around 1900. ^{1 2}

More Idioms Starting with B

• Be in Someone’s Hair
• Beat a Dead Horse
• Be a 10, to
• Buck For Something
• Bottomless Pit

More Beat Idioms

• Beat a Dead Horse
• Beat the Traffic
• Heart Skips a Beat
• Beat the Bushes
• Beat Around the Bush

More It Idioms

• Easy Does It
• Get Away From It All
• Don’t I Know It

More To Idioms

• To Your Heart’s Content
• To a T
• Take Someone to the Cleaners
• Have Something Down to a Fine Art
• Hang On (or hang on to)

References

1. Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.
2. Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.