Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of beast.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Pouring towards the boat, in a fever of excitement that rises higher every moment, the natural elements of hunger and constant struggle against the great river swell their fury; they bellow like wild beasts, _they are like beasts_, for they have known nothing but struggle all their lives; they have always, since they were tiny children, been fighting this roaring water monster -- they know none else.

    Across China on Foot Edwin John Dingle 1926

  • But, Mr. Morley, I did not say _wild_ beasts: I only said _beasts_.

    The Vicar's Daughter George MacDonald 1864

  • V. iv.36 (332,6) [Here comes a pair of very strange beasts] [W: unclean beasts] _Strange beasts_ are only what we call _odd_ animals.

    Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • Here are clean, fresh, English maids, for whom a higher standard of living than that of the beasts is absolutely necessary.

    Wages 1903

  • If there be horns (which denote the force and fury of beasts) against the church, there are carpenters (which denote the wisdom and forecast of men) for the church, by which they find ways to master the strongest beasts, for every kind of beasts is tamed, and has been tamed, of mankind, Jam. iii.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • So there is literary precedent for using beasts from the bovine family in such a manner …

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Gentlemen’s Club. 2009

  • A pair of beasts is what we were, penned together and showing our teeth.

    Chapter 9 2010

  • So there is literary precedent for using beasts from the bovine family in such a manner …

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Gentlemen’s Club. 2009

  • So-called “mirror mark tests”, where a mark is placed on the animal in such a way that it can only be observed when it looks at its reflection, have been used to sort the self-aware beasts from the rest.

    Mirror test shows magpies aren’t so bird-brained « Isegoria 2008

  • Startling evidence has been found which shows mammoth and other great beasts from the last ice age were blasted with material that came from space.

    NASA Watch: December 2007 Archives 2007

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