beats me

beats me idiom
This baffles or puzzles me, as in I don't know how he does it—beats me! This term originally may have alluded to a winning poker hand. It may also be related to the even earlier usage of beat for “astonished” or “at a loss.” [Slang; mid-1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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