beats me

English

Etymology

A shortening of it beats me

Pronunciation

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Phrase

beats me

1. (idiomatic, as response or with indirect question) I don't know; I have no idea.

   Do you have any idea what "tergiversate" means? Beats me!

   Beats me how he finds out when we're goofing off.

   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     "Flowering shrubs don't thrive in the subterranean caverns from which geysers spring," suggested Bradley. Olson shook his head. "It beats me," he said.

Usage notes

• This expression is nearly always used in the present tense, first person singular, as given above.

Synonyms

• search me