[beest] Pronunciation Key | 1. | any nonhuman animal, esp. a large, four-footed mammal. |
| 2. | the crude animal nature common to humans and the lower animals: Hunger brought out the beast in him. |
| 3. | a cruel, coarse, filthy, or otherwise beastlike person. |
| 4. | a live creature, as distinguished from a plant: What manner of beast is this? |
| 5. | the beast, the Antichrist. Rev. 13:18. |
] —Related forms
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| beast
(bēst) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English beste, from Old French, from Latin bēstia.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
beast
| beast | |
noun | |
| 1. | a living organism characterized by voluntary movement [syn: animal] |
| 2. | a cruelly rapacious person |
Beast
Beast\, n. [OE. best, beste, OF. beste, F. b[^e]te, fr. L. bestia.]1. Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 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. --Prov. xii. 10. 3. As opposed to man: Any irrational animal. 4. Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow. 5. A game at cards similar to loo. [Obs.] --Wright. 6. A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be beaten at beast, omber, etc. Beast royal, the lion. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Syn: Beast, Brute. Usage: 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.
Beast
This word is used of flocks or herds of grazing animals (Ex. 22:5; Num. 20:4, 8, 11; Ps. 78:48); of beasts of burden (Gen. 45:17); of eatable beasts (Prov. 9:2); and of swift beasts or dromedaries (Isa. 60:6). In the New Testament it is used of a domestic animal as property (Rev. 18:13); as used for food (1 Cor. 15:39), for service (Luke 10:34; Acts 23:24), and for sacrifice (Acts 7:42). When used in contradistinction to man (Ps. 36:6), it denotes a brute creature generally, and when in contradistinction to creeping things (Lev. 11:2-7; 27:26), a four-footed animal. The Mosaic law required that beasts of labour should have rest on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10; 23:12), and in the Sabbatical year all cattle were allowed to roam about freely, and eat whatever grew in the fields (Ex. 23:11; Lev. 25:7). No animal could be castrated (Lev. 22:24). Animals of different kinds were to be always kept separate (Lev. 19:19; Deut. 22:10). Oxen when used in threshing were not to be prevented from eating what was within their reach (Deut. 25:4; 1 Cor.9:9). This word is used figuratively of an infuriated multitude (1 Cor. 15:32; Acts 19:29; comp. Ps. 22:12, 16; Eccl. 3:18; Isa. 11:6-8), and of wicked men (2 Pet. 2:12). The four beasts of Daniel 7:3, 17, 23 represent four kingdoms or kings.
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