beaten

Everyday

1. Beaten is the form of "beat" after have or be: lost to someone in a game ("We were beaten 3–0"). tree →
2. Beaten means hit many times: "The traveller was beaten by robbers." tree →
3. Beaten (cooking) means mixed hard with a fork or whisk: "beaten eggs". tree →
4. Beaten (adjective) can mean tired and defeated, or flattened by walking, as in "a beaten path". tree →

In the lessons

In sport and stories, being beaten is losing; good players learn from it. In the parable of the Good Samaritan the traveller is "beaten and left half dead". In cooking lessons, recipes ask for beaten eggs. Phrases: be beaten, beaten up (rude violence), off the beaten track (in a quiet, faraway place), can't be beaten (the best).

Examples

• We were beaten by the other school, but we played well. tree →
• Robbers left the man beaten by the side of the road. tree →
• Add two beaten eggs to the flour. tree →
• We walked along a beaten path through the woods. tree →
• Our cottage was off the beaten track. tree →
• This pizza can't be beaten! tree →
• Hitting people is never right; nobody should be beaten. tree →
• ‘Who has beaten you like this?’ asked the King. tree →

Note

Verb forms: beat, beats, beat (past), beaten (past participle), beating. Trap: "We beat them" (past) vs "We were beaten" (passive). In sports scores, the first number is usually the winner's.

In Jewish tradition

Hammered out of a single piece of metal. The cherubim and lampstand were made of beaten gold.

Interpretation. Beaten work is read as the finest craft, made without joining separate pieces. The lampstand is a single piece of gold, which stands for unity in the light of Israel.

Examples

• And he made two cherubim of gold: of beaten work made he them, at the two ends of the ark-cover: (Torah EXO.37.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the ark-cover. (Torah EXO.25.18, JPS 1917) tree →
• Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it; the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold. (Torah EXO.25.36, JPS 1917) tree →
• And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. (Prophets 1KI.10.16, JPS 1917) tree →
• And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target; (Writings 2CH.9.15, JPS 1917) tree →
• And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. (Prophets JOS.8.15, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Verb forms: beat, beats, beat (past), beaten (past participle), beating. Trap: "We beat them" (past) vs "We were beaten" (passive). In sports scores, the first number is usually the winner's.