Verb: beat about the bush
Usage: informal
Usage: informal
- Be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information
"Stop beating about the bush and tell me what really happened";
- beat around the bush [informal], equivocate, tergiversate, prevaricate, palter [archaic], weasel [informal]
Derived forms: beat about the bush, beats about the bush
Type of: disinform, misinform, mislead
Encyclopedia: Beat about the bush