beater

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbitɚ/, [ˈbiɾɚ]
• Rhymes: -iːtə(r)

From Middle English beter, betere, bettere, from Old English bēatere (“a beater; fighter; champion”), equivalent to beat +‎ -er.

beater (plural beaters)

1. Someone or something that beats.
2. A kitchen implement for mixing.
3. A stick used to play a percussion instrument.
4. A person who drives game towards shooters in a hunting party, often working in a group.
   • 1934, George Orwell, chapter 14, in Burmese Days‎:

     The beaters halted in a group to watch, and some of them could not refrain from clicking their tongues; they thought it queer and rather shocking to see a woman handle a gun.

5. A papermaking machine for processing fibres by fibrillation in order to improve bonding strength
6. (US, informal) An automobile in poor operating condition.
7. A weaving tool designed to push the weft yarn securely into place. It contains the comb-like insert reed and is sometimes a part of the loom.
8. (Canada) A harp seal pup after its first moult and before its second moult.

• (stick for a percussion instrument): drum stick

• eggbeater
• world-beater

By shortening from wife beater.

beater (plural beaters)

1. (US, informal) A sleeveless undershirt.

• Bartee, berate, betear, erbate, rebate