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beat around the bush

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 22 October 2007

Alternative forms

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beat about the bush

Etymology

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From the older formbeat about the bush, replacing the preposition.

Pronunciation

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enPR:bēt′ ə-round′thə bo͝osh
(Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key): /ˈbiːt əˌɹaʊ̯nd ðə bʊʃ/
(General American, Canada)IPA^(key): /ˈbit əˌɹaʊ̯nd ðə bʊʃ/
(General Australian)IPA^(key): /ˈbiːt əˌɹæɔ̯nd ðə bʊʃ/
Audio(General Australian): (file)
(New Zealand)IPA^(key): /ˈbiːt əˌɹæʊ̯nd ðə bʊʃ/
(Scotland)IPA^(key): /ˈbit əˌɹʌʊ̯nd ðə bʉʃ/
(India)IPA^(key): /ˈbiːʈ aˌɾawnɖ ðe bʊʃ/
Hyphenation:beat a‧round the bush

Verb

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beat around the bush (third-person singular simple presentbeats around the bush,present participlebeating around the bush,simple pastbeat around the bushor(nonstandard)beated around the bush,past participlebeaten around the bushor(colloquial)beat around the bushor(nonstandard)beated around the bush)

(idiomatic) Totreat a topic, butomit its mainpoints, oftenintentionally.
(idiomatic) Todelay oravoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant.
Synonyms:go around the houses,prevaricate,pussyfoot,ramble,tergiversate,waffle
Antonyms:cut to the chase,get on with it,get to the point
Just stopbeating around the bush and tell me what the problem is!
- 1870,Horatio Alger,Rufus and Rose‎^[1]:
  "Look here," said Smith, menacingly, "if you think I cheated you, you might as well say so right out. I don't likebeating around the bush."

to treat a topic but omit its main points

Arabic:لَفَّ وَدَارَ(laffa wadāra)
Armenian:ջուր ծեծել (hy)(ǰur cecel),յուղ վառել (hy)(yuġ vaṙel)
Bulgarian:увъртам (bg) impf(uvǎrtam),увъртя pf(uvǎrtja)
Catalan:marejar la perdiu
Chinese:
Mandarin:拐彎抹角 /拐弯抹角 (zh)(guǎiwānmòjiǎo),轉彎抹角 /转弯抹角 (zh)(zhuǎnwānmòjiǎo),兜圈子 (zh)(dōu quānzi),繞圈子 /绕圈子 (zh)(ràoquānzi)
Dutch:rond de pot draaien (nl)(literally“circle around the pot”),om de hete brij dansen(literally“dance around the hot porridge”)
Esperanto:ĉirkaŭparoli
Finnish:kierrellä (fi),jaaritella (fi),puhua ummet ja lammet
French:tourner autour du pot (fr)(literally“circle around the pot”)
German:um den heißen Brei herumreden (de)(literally“talk around the hot porridge”)
Hungarian:kerülgeti, mint macska a forró kását (hu)(literally“circle like a cat around hot porridge”),köntörfalaz (hu),mellébeszél (hu)
Italian:menare il can per l'aia(literally“to lead the dog around the yard”),girarci intorno,tergiversare (it),fare giri di parole,andare per le spicce
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish:بڕۆ سەر ئەصلی بابەت
Luxembourgish:ronderëm de Bräi schwätzen
Maltese:dur mal-lewża
Maori:tītahataha
Norwegian:gå som katten rundt den varme grøten(literally“circle like a cat around the warm porridge”)
Polish:owijać w bawełnę (pl) impf
Portuguese:fazer rodeios (pt),usar de rodeios (pt)(literally“to use roundabout conversations”),enrolar (pt),encher linguiça (pt)
Russian:ходи́ть вокру́г да о́коло (ru)(xodítʹ vokrúg da ókolo, literally“walk round and about”),тяну́ть рези́ну (ru)(tjanútʹ rezínu, literally“pull rubber”),перелива́ть из пусто́го в поро́жнее (ru)(perelivátʹ iz pustóvo v poróžneje, literally“empty one container into another”)
Serbo-Croatian:okolišati (sh),obilaziti kao mačak oko vruće kaše
Spanish:andarse con rodeos,andar con ambages
Swedish:gå som katten kring gröten(literally“to walk like a cat around warm porridge”)
Tagalog:pasikut-sikot(roundabout),magpaligoy-ligoy,lumigoy-ligoy
Thai:ออกทะเล (th)(ɔ̀ɔk-tá-lee, literally“to go out to the sea”),ชักแม่น้ำทั้งห้า (th)(chák-mɛ̂ɛ-náam-táng-hâa, literally“to allude to all the five rivers”)
Vietnamese:nói gần nói xa chẳng qua nói thật
Welsh:curo'r twmpath(literally“to beat the pile”),curo o gwmpas y twmpathau(literally“to beat around the piles”)

to delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant

Arabic:لَفَّ وَدَارَ(laffa wadāra)
Armenian:ջուր ծեծել (hy)(ǰur cecel),յուղ վառել (hy)(yuġ vaṙel)
Bulgarian:увъртам (bg) impf(uvǎrtam),увъртя pf(uvǎrtja),заобикалям темата impf(zaobikaljam temata),заобиколя темата pf(zaobikolja temata)
Chinese:
Cantonese:轉彎抹角 /转弯抹角(zyun³ waan¹ mut³ gok³, zyun³ waan¹ mut⁶ gok³),遊花園 /游花园(jau⁴ faa¹ jyun^4-2, literally“to wander around the garden”)
Mandarin:拐彎抹角 /拐弯抹角 (zh)(guǎiwānmòjiǎo)
Czech:chodit kolem horké kaše(literally“circle around hot porridge”)
Dutch:rond de pot draaien (nl)(literally“circle around the pot”),om de hete brij dansen(literally“dance around the hot porridge”)
Esperanto:ĉirkaŭparoli
Finnish:kiertää kuin kissa kuumaa puuroa,kierrellä (fi)
French:tourner autour du pot (fr)(literally“circle around the pot”)
German:um den heißen Brei herumreden (de)(literally“talk around the pot”)
Hungarian:köntörfalaz (hu)
Icelandic:tala í kringum,fara í kringum eins og köttur í kringum heitan graut (is)
Italian:menare il can per l'aia(literally“to lead the dog around the yard”)
Maltese:dur mal-lewża
Maori:tītahataha
Norwegian:gå som katten rundt den varme grøten(literally“circle like a cat around the warm porridge”)
Polish:owijać w bawełnę (pl) impf
Portuguese:enrolar (pt),embromar (pt),encher linguiça (pt)
Russian:ходи́ть вокру́г да о́коло (ru)(xodítʹ vokrúg da ókolo, literally“walk round and about”),тяну́ть рязи́ну(tjanútʹ rjazínu, literally“pull rubber”),перелива́ть из пусто́го в поро́жнее (ru)(perelivátʹ iz pustóvo v poróžneje, literally“empty one container into another”)
Spanish:ir por los cerros de Úbeda,andarse por las ramas
Swedish:gå som katten kring het gröt
Tagalog:pasikut-sikot(literally“roundabout”)
Thai:ออกทะเล (th)(ɔ̀ɔk-tá-lee, literally“to go out to the sea”),ชักแม่น้ำทั้งห้า (th)(chák-mɛ̂ɛ-náam-táng-hâa, literally“to allude to all the five rivers”)
Turkish:lafı dolandırmak
Vietnamese:vòng vo tam quốc (vi)
Welsh:hel dial(literally“to gather leaves”)(North Wales),pilo wyau(literally“to peel eggs”)(South Wales)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Japanese:^{(pleaseverify)}要点に触れないで射る(yōten ni furenaide iru),^{(pleaseverify)}要点に触れない(yōten ni furenai)
Korean:^{(pleaseverify)}돌려서 말하다(dollyeoseo malhada),^{(pleaseverify)}변죽을 울리다(byeonjug-eul ullida),^{(pleaseverify)}요점을 피하다(yojeom-eul pihada)

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beat around the bush

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Coordinate terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Further reading