to beat the band
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to beat the band
To a huge or the greatest possible extent or degree. They've been selling Girl Scout cookies to beat the band ever since they set up shop right outside. The child started screaming to beat the band when her parents took away her cotton candy.
to beat the band
very briskly; very fast. He's selling computers to beat the band since he started advertising. She worked to beat the band to get ready for this.
to beat the band
Also, to beat all. To the greatest possible degree. For example, The baby was crying to beat the band, or The wind is blowing to beat the band, or John is dressed up to beat all. This idiom uses beat in the sense of "surpass." The first term may, according to one theory, allude to a desire to arrive before the musicians who led a parade, so as to see the entire event. Another theory holds that it means "make more noise than (and thereby beat) a loud band." [Colloquial; late 1800s]
to beat the band
in such a way as to surpass all competition. North American informal 1995 Patrick McCabe The Dead School He was polishing away to beat the band.
to beat the band
mod. very hard and very fast. He’s selling computers to beat the band since he started advertising.
to beat the band
To an extreme degree.
to beat the band
Outstandingly, surpassing all others. One writer believes this term comes from the idea of making more noise than a loud band, and the OED concurs, saying it means literally to drown out the band. It originated in late-nineteenth-century Britain and soon traveled to the United States, Canada, and other English-speaking lands. “I was driving lickety-split to beat the band,” boasted C. M. Flandrau (Harvard Episodes, 1897).