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From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Beast n.
 1. Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc. [Obs.]
 2. Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden.
    A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.   --Prov. xii. 10.
 3. any animal other than a human; -- opposed to man.
    'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast.
   --W. C. Fields.
 4. Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow.
 5. A game at cards similar to loo. [Obs.]
 6. A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be beaten at beast, omber, etc.
 Beast royal, the lion. [Obs.]
 Syn: -- Beast, Brute.
 Usage: When we use these words in a figurative sense, as applicable to human beings, we think of beasts as mere animals governed by animal appetite; and of brutes as being destitute of reason or moral feeling, and governed by unrestrained passion. Hence we speak of beastly appetites; beastly indulgences, etc.; and of brutal manners; brutal inhumanity; brutal ferocity. So, also, we say of a drunkard, that he first made himself a beast, and then treated his family like a brute.