bad to beat

English

Etymology

Compare the phrase "beat badly"; see badly (“very much; to a great degree”).

Adjective

bad to beat (not comparable)

1. (slang, archaic) Difficult to beat; sure to succeed.
   • 1861, Anne Bowman, Among the Tartar Tents, Or, The Lost Fathers, page 183:

     "But, you see, they know nothing of discipline. If they'd only form reg'lar, and stand firm in a square, they'd be bad to beat, as them dogs of robbers would find."

   • 1886, The Breeder's Gazette, page 274:

     Twenty-one yearling fillies faced the judges, and in this competition Mr. Clark's Silver Queen was an easy first, and with a little more flesh and condition will be bad to beat.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary