From the older form beat about the bush, replacing the preposition.
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.
- 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."
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”)
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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 jyun4-2, 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)
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Translations to be checked
