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beat to the punch

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.07 sec.
beat someone to the punch (American)
to do something before someone else does it. I was thinking of applying for that job but Carol beat me to the punch.
See also: beat, punch
beat someone to the punch
to do something before someone else can do it. I wanted to give my mother a camera, but my brother beat me to the punch.
Etymology: from boxing, in which good fighters are quick to react by punching (= hitting) the other fighter before they are hit
See also: beat, punch


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ALTHOUGH I got beat to the punch days ago, when Daily News political cartoonist Patrick O'Connor hilariously linked a story about a blob of muck threatening to overtake downtown to a rumor that Jackie Goldberg might be recruited as superintendent of Los Angeles schools, it's still a comparison worth pursuing.
TEACHERS PEST GOLDBERG AS SCHOOLS CHIEF A DISASTER by Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
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