'To beat the dust' definitions:

Definition of 'To beat the dust'

From: GCIDE

Beat \Beat\ (b[=e]t), v. t. [imp. Beat; p. p. Beat, Beaten; p. pr. & vb. n. Beating.] [OE. beaten, beten, AS. be['a]tan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. b[=o]zan. Cf. 1st Butt, Button.]
1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum. [1913 Webster]
Thou shalt beat some of it [spices] very small. --Ex. xxx. 36. [1913 Webster]
They did beat the gold into thin plates. --Ex. xxxix. 3. [1913 Webster]
2. To punish by blows; to thrash. [1913 Webster]
3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game. [1913 Webster]
To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey. --Prior. [1913 Webster]
4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind. [1913 Webster]
A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
5. To tread, as a path. [1913 Webster]
Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way. --Blackmore. [1913 Webster]
6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to. [1913 Webster]
He beat them in a bloody battle. --Prescott. [1913 Webster]
For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that. --M. Arnold. [1913 Webster]
7. To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
8. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble. [1913 Webster]
Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic? --Locke. [1913 Webster]
9. (Mil.) To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc. [1913 Webster]
10. to baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person); as, it beats me why he would do that. [1913 Webster]
11. to evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment); as, to beat the rap (be acquitted); to beat the sales tax by buying out of state. [1913 Webster]
To beat down, to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down. [Colloq.]
To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition.
To beat off, to repel or drive back.
To beat out, to extend by hammering.
To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. "Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it to this day." --South.
To beat the dust. (Man.) (a) To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse. (b) To perform curvets too precipitately or too low.
To beat the hoof, to walk; to go on foot.
To beat the wing, to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation.
To beat time, to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.
To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters. [1913 Webster]
Syn: To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome. [1913 Webster]