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)
- (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.