Beat around the bush means to avoid talking about the main point. People do it when the subject is unpleasant or awkward. The idiom is conversational and often sounds like a reproach: Stop beating around the bush. In British English you will also hear beat about the bush.
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beat around/about the bush; stop beating around the bush; I won't beat around the bush: + main point
- Stop beating around the bush and tell me whether we got the contract.
- I won't beat around the bush: we need to cut the budget by ten per cent.
- He beat around the bush for ten minutes before asking to borrow my car.
What changed
First versionStop walking around and about and tell me the truth.
RevisionStop beating around the bush and tell me the truth.
Walking around and about is not an English expression: it reads like a translated idiom, and a native speaker would not understand what you mean. English uses its own image for this, beat around the bush, and that idiom replaces the literal version.
The opposite is get to the point, to start talking about the most important thing: Let me get straight to the point. In an essay, instead of beat around the bush, write avoid the main issue or be indirect.
Your turn
My manager ___ for five minutes before she finally said that my contract would not be renewed.
Show the answer
beat around the bush — The manager stalled for five minutes and only then said the main thing, so she was beating around the bush. Got to the point would mean she went straight to the main thing, which doesn't fit for five minutes before she finally said.
Imagine you have to give a colleague some bad news. Start with a phrase saying that you won't beat around the bush, then give the news straight away.
I won't beat around the bush: the client has rejected our design, so we need a new version by Monday.
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