beast (b?st)n.1. An animal other than a human, especially a large four-footed mammal.2. Animal nature as opposed to intellect or spirit: an insult that brought out the beast in him.3. A very large or powerful person or thing: drives a beast of a truck.4. Something of a specified kind: Her latest film is an odd beast.5. A brutal, contemptible person.[Middle English beste, from Old French, from Latin b?stia.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.beast (bi?st) n1. any animal other than man, esp a large wild quadruped2. savage nature or characteristics: the beast in man. 3. a brutal, uncivilized, or filthy personvb (Military) (tr) military slang chiefly Brit to punish or torture (someone) in a manner that involves excessive physical exercise[C13: from Old French beste, from Latin bestia, of obscure origin]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014beast (bist) n. 1. any nonhuman animal, esp. a large, four-footed mammal. 2. the crude animal nature common to humans and other animals. 3. a cruel, coarse, or filthy person. 4. any animal, as distinguished from a plant. [1175?1225; Middle English