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!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer