beat the crowd

English

Verb

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

1. To go somewhere before many others do.
   • 2007, Shunna Pillay, Shadow People, page 134:

     Dhava beat the crowd to the sweets counter and was back within minutes with two boxes of Black Magic chocolates, which he handed to Sharda.