- breast-beating
- noun Date: 1938 noisy demonstrative protestation (as of grief, anger, or self-recrimination)
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
breast-beating
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breast-beating — breast beater, n. /brest bee ting/, n. 1. a loud and demonstrative display of grief, remorse, or the like: The authorities indulged in a great deal of breast beating about traffic accidents but failed to pass new driving laws. adj. 2.… … Universalium
breast-beating — beat (your) breast to publicly pretend that you feel sad or guilty. No amount of breast beating will bring back those who died in the crash … New idioms dictionary
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
breast-beating — /ˈbrɛst bitɪŋ/ (say brest beeting) noun Colloquial the uttering of expressions of contrition and remorse, often in a melodramatic manner …
breast-beating — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ noun : noisy demonstrative protestation (as of grief, anger, or self recrimination) … 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-beater — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ noun : one that engages in breast beating … Useful english dictionary
Beating — Beat 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 … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
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
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
