beat the wing

English

Verb

beat the wing (third-person singular simple present beats the wing, present participle beating the wing, simple past beat the wing, past participle beaten the wing or (colloquial) beat the wing)

1. (dated) To flutter or flap; to move with fluttering agitation, or to rush.
   • 1674, John Dryden, State of Innocence:

     Thrice have I beat the wing, and rid with night / About the world.

References

• “beat”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.