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)

1. (idiomatic) To treat a topic, but omit its main points, often intentionally.
2. (idiomatic) To delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant.

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

   Antonyms: cut to the chase, get on with it, get to the point

   Just stop beating around the bush and tell me what the problem is!

   • 1870, Horatio Alger, Rufus and Rose‎^[1]:

     "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

• circumlocute
• hem and haw

Related terms

• beat the bushes

Translations

to treat a topic but omit its main points

• Armenian: ջուր ծեծել (hy) (ǰur cecel), յուղ վառել (hy) (yuġ 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 (nl) (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
• Maltese: dur mal-lewża
• 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) (yuġ 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 kolem horké kaše (literally “circle around hot porridge”)
• Dutch: rond de pot draaien (nl) (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”)
• Maltese: dur mal-lewża
• 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”)
• Turkish: lafı dolandırmak
• 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)

See also

• long-winded