BEAST


Meaning of BEAST in English

ˈbēst noun

( -s )

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English beest, beste, from Old French beste, from Latin bestia; perhaps akin to Lithuanian dvasas spirit, breath — more at dust

1.

a. : a living creature : animal as distinguished from plant

b. : any lower animal as distinguished from man

c. : a 4-footed mammal as distinguished on the one hand from man and on the other from birds and lower vertebrates (as fishes and reptiles) and from invertebrates

d.

(1) obsolete : any domesticated mammal

(2) : a game mammal

(3) : a wild mammal fierce by nature ; especially : a carnivorous wild mammal

(4) : an animal used for riding or draft ; especially : horse

(5) : a domestic bovine ; especially Britain : a fat or fattening butcher's steer

2.

a. : a person arousing contempt or loathing for any of a number of traits (as folly, great stupidity, coarseness, vileness, degradation, lust, or insensate brutality)

called me a beast and a satyr and asked me whether I had gone mad — Robert Graves

b. : a thing, situation, or condition felt to be hateful or offensive

a beast of a day, bleak, cold, and rainy

3. slang : girl : young woman ; especially : a coarse or unattractive woman

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.