beat around the bush

English

WOTD – 22 October 2007

Alternative forms

beat about the bush

Etymology

From the older form beat about the bush, replacing the preposition.

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian) (file)

Verb

beat around the bush (third-person singular simple present beats around the bush, present participle beating around the bush, simple past and past participle beaten around the bush)

(idiomatic) To treat a topic, but omit its main points, often intentionally.
(idiomatic) To delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant.
Just stop beating around the bush and tell me what the problem is!

Synonyms: go around the houses, prevaricate, pussyfoot, ramble, tergiversate, waffle

Antonyms: cut to the chase, get on with it, get to the point
- 1870, Horatio Alger, Rufus and Rose‎:
  "Look here," said Smith, menacingly, "if you think I cheated you, you might as well say so right out. I don't like beating around the bush."

Coordinate terms

Translations

to treat a topic but omit its main points

Armenian: ջուր ծեծել (hy) (ǰur cecel), յուղ վառել (hy) (yuł vaṙel)
Catalan: marejar la perdiu
Chinese:
Mandarin: 拐彎抹角／拐弯抹角 (zh) (guǎiwānmòjiǎo), 轉彎抹角／转弯抹角 (zh) (zhuǎnwānmòjiǎo), 兜圈子 (zh) (dōuquānzi), 繞圈子／绕圈子 (zh) (ràoquānzi)
Dutch: rond de pot draaien (literally “circle around the pot”), om de hete brij dansen (literally “dance around the hot porridge”)
Esperanto: ĉirkaŭparoli
Finnish: kierrellä (fi), jaaritella (fi), puhua ummet ja lammet
French: tourner autour du pot (fr) (literally “circle around the pot”)
German: um den heißen Brei herumreden (de) (literally “talk around the hot porridge”)
Hungarian: kerülgeti, mint macska a forró kását (hu) (literally “circle like a cat around hot porridge”), köntörfalaz (hu), mellébeszél (hu)
Italian: menare il can per l'aia (literally “to lead the dog around the yard”), girarci intorno, tergiversare (it), fare giri di parole, andare per le spicce
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بڕۆ سەر ئەصلی بابەت‎
Luxembourgish: ronderëm de Bräi schwätzen
Maori: tītahataha
Norwegian: gå som katten rundt den varme grøten (literally “circle like a cat around the warm porridge”)
Polish: owijać w bawełnę (pl) impf (literally “to wrap around in the cotton”)
Portuguese: fazer rodeios (pt), usar de rodeios (pt) (literally “to use roundabout conversations”), enrolar (pt), encher linguiça (pt)
Russian: ходи́ть вокру́г да о́коло (ru) (xodítʹ vokrúg da ókolo, literally “walk round and about”), тяну́ть рези́ну (ru) (tjanútʹ rezínu, literally “pull rubber”), перелива́ть из пусто́го в поро́жнее (ru) (perelivátʹ iz pustóvo v poróžneje, literally “empty one container into another”)
Serbo-Croatian: okolišati (sh), obilaziti kao mačak oko vruće kaše
Spanish: andarse con rodeos, andar con ambages
Swedish: gå som katten kring gröten (literally “to walk like a cat around warm porridge”)
Tagalog: pasikut-sikot (roundabout), magpaligoy-ligoy, lumigoy-ligoy
Thai: ออกทะเล (th) (ɔ̀ɔk-tá-lee, literally “to go out to the sea”), ชักแม่น้ำทั้งห้า (th) (chák-mɛ̂ɛ-náam-táng-hâa, literally “to allude to all the five rivers”)

to delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant

Armenian: ջուր ծեծել (hy) (ǰur cecel), յուղ վառել (hy) (yuł vaṙel)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 轉彎抹角／转弯抹角 (zyun³ waan¹ mut³ gok³, zyun³ waan¹ mut⁶ gok³), 遊花園／游花园 (jau⁴ faa¹ jyun^4-2, literally “to wander around the garden”)

Mandarin: 拐彎抹角／拐弯抹角 (zh) (guǎiwānmòjiǎo)
Czech: chodit jako okolo horké kaše (cs) (literally “circle around hot porridge”)
Dutch: rond de pot draaien (literally “circle around the pot”), om de hete brij dansen (literally “dance around the hot porridge”)
Esperanto: ĉirkaŭparoli
Finnish: kiertää kuin kissa kuumaa puuroa, kierrellä (fi)
French: tourner autour du pot (fr) (literally “circle around the pot”)
German: um den heißen Brei herumreden (de) (literally “talk around the pot”)
Hungarian: köntörfalaz (hu)
Icelandic: tala í kringum, fara í kringum eins og köttur í kringum heitan graut (is)
Italian: menare il can per l'aia (literally “to lead the dog around the yard”)
Maori: tītahataha
Norwegian: gå som katten rundt den varme grøten (literally “circle like a cat around the warm porridge”)
Polish: owijać w bawełnę (pl) (literally “wrap in cotton”)
Portuguese: enrolar (pt), embromar (pt), encher linguiça (pt)
Russian: ходи́ть вокру́г да о́коло (ru) (xodítʹ vokrúg da ókolo, literally “walk round and about”), тяну́ть рязи́ну (tjanútʹ rjazínu, literally “pull rubber”), перелива́ть из пусто́го в поро́жнее (ru) (perelivátʹ iz pustóvo v poróžneje, literally “empty one container into another”)
Spanish: ir por los cerros de Úbeda, andarse por las ramas
Swedish: gå som katten kring het gröt
Tagalog: pasikut-sikot (literally “roundabout”)
Thai: ออกทะเล (th) (ɔ̀ɔk-tá-lee, literally “to go out to the sea”), ชักแม่น้ำทั้งห้า (th) (chák-mɛ̂ɛ-náam-táng-hâa, literally “to allude to all the five rivers”)
Vietnamese: vòng vo tam quốc (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 要点に触れないで射る (yōten ni furenaide iru), ^{(please verify)} 要点に触れない (yōten ni furenai)
Korean: ^{(please verify)} 변죽을 울리십시요 (byeonjug-eul ullisipsiyo)

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