BEAST • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Beast

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noun

Beast n.

1.

Any living creature; an animal; including man, insects, etc. (Obs.)

2.

Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast."

3.

Any animal other than a human; opposed to man. "'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast."

4.

Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow.

5.

A game at cards similar to loo. (Obs.)

6.

A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be beaten at beast, omber, etc.

Beast royal, the lion. (Obs.)

Synonyms: Beast, Brute. When we use these words in a figurative sense, as applicable to human beings, we think of beasts as mere animals governed by animal appetite; and of brutes as being destitute of reason or moral feeling, and governed by unrestrained passion. Hence we speak of beastly appetites; beastly indulgences, etc.; and of brutal manners; brutal inhumanity; brutal ferocity. So, also, we say of a drunkard, that he first made himself a beast, and then treated his family like a brute.

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Etymology of 'Beast'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Beast" Quotes from Famous Books

... said Jenks a moment later: "you're in luck, padre. It's a topping camp, and the skipper is an awfully good sort. Beast of a long way out, though. You'll have to have a ...

— Simon Called Peter • Robert Keable

... in the missions of the Caribbees, amid the Llanos, between Angostura and Nueva Barcelona, the natives assembled round our mules to admire the monkeys which we had purchased at the Orinoco. These good people had scarcely touched our baggage, when they announced the approaching death of the beast of burden that carried the dead. In vain we told them that they were deceived in their conjectures; and that the baskets contained the bones of crocodiles and manatees; they persisted in repeating that they smelt the resin that surrounded the skeletons, and that they were their ...

— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt

... five senses, but only man possesses constructive, creative power, and is able to build on the information gained through the senses. It is the constructive, creative power which raises man above the level of the beast and enables him to devise and fashion wonderful inventions. Among the most important of his inventions are those which relate to electricity; inventions such as trolley car, elevator, automobile, electric light, the telephone, the telegraph. Bell, by his ...

— General Science • Bertha M. Clark

... "Ungrateful little beast!" said Sidney, and dried her eyes. "Do you suppose he'll ever think of the nuts again, ...

— K • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... Norvin, the horse threw me." She warned him with a grimace which Bernie did not see. "He's a frightful beast." ...

— The Net • Rex Beach

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