beat to phrasal verb

1. to get somewhere or do something before somebody else
   • ● She beat me to the top of the hill.
   • ● I was about to take the last cake, but he beat me to it.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲

beat to
v., informal To do something before someone else does it.
I was waiting to buy a ticket but only one ticket was left, and another man beat me to it.
We were planning to send a rocket into space but the Russians beat us to it.
Compare: GET THE JUMP ON.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲