beat the bushes (for someone or something)

To search for someone or something exhaustively and at great length. I've been beating the bushes for a bigger apartment, but there's nothing out there I can afford! Come on, man, you've got to get out of here. The police are beating the bushes for you, and you're putting us all in danger by staying here! Well, you can beat the bushes all you want, but I really doubt you're going to find a used car at that low price point!

beat the bushes for

Look everywhere for something or someone, as in I've been beating the bushes for a substitute but haven't had any luck. This term originally alluded to hunting, when beaters were hired to flush birds out of the brush. [1400s] Also see beat around the bush.

beat the bushes

search thoroughly. North American informal

This expression originates from the way in which hunters walk through undergrowth wielding long sticks which are used to force birds or animals out into the open where they can be shot or netted.

beat the ˈbushes

(especially American English) try very hard to find, obtain or achieve something: Telephone companies are beating the bushes for new customers.

beat the bushes

To make an exhaustive search.

beat the bushes for, to

To seek out assiduously. The term comes from hunting, in the days when beaters were employed to flush birds out for a hunting party, and has been used in its literal sense since the fifteenth century.