noun
beast
BEEST/biːst/
A nonhuman animal, especially a large wild one.
The large wild beast stands solidly in the open grassland.
Etymology
Latin bestia already meant a beast or wild animal. In English, beast once served as the general term for nonhuman animals before animal displaced it in ordinary usage.
In context
… this animal employs one of the oldest strategic devices known that of playing on the cupidity of its prey being a rather slow gated Beast …
More examples
- Travelers once feared the beasts living beyond the village.
- The cruel jailer is described as a beast.
- A horned beast appears in the old legend.
Forms
beast · beasts