BEAT, in a general signification, signifies to chastise, strike, knock, or vanquish.
This word has several other significations in the manufactures, and in the arts and trades. Sometimes it signifies to forge and hammer; in which sense smiths and farriers say, to beat iron. Sometimes it means to pound, to reduce into powder: Thus we say, to beat drugs, to beat pepper, to beat spices; that is to say, to pulverize them.