beat to the punch

English

Verb

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

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To carry out an action before another person is able to do so.

   I was planning to take care of the problem for him, but he beat me to the punch and did it himself.

Usage notes

• The object typically appears between the verb and the preposition:

Zumbetel was ready to launch the world's thinnest smartphone, but Yalpatel beat them to the punch.

But occasionally other uses can be found:

With their innovative design, Xollatel beat to the punch both of their main competitors.

Translations

to do something before somebody else can

• Finnish: ehtiä ensin
• French: devancer (fr), prendre de vitesse (fr), couper l’herbe sous le pied (fr), coiffer au poteau (fr)
• Hungarian: megelőz (hu)
• Polish: wyprzedzać (pl) impf, wyprzedzić (pl) pf
• Russian: упреди́ть (ru) n (upredítʹ), опереди́ть (ru) n (operedítʹ)
• Spanish: ganar de mano, anticipar (es), ganar por la mano

See also

• beat to
• first blood
• get the drop on