Beat me to it by about 30 seconds
(Source: The first comment under this answer.)
I can't find "beat to" in my phrasal verb look up table, nor this usage makes any sense to me. But it looks like I'm the only one who didn't understand it, because nobody asked him "What did you mean by that comment?" there.
Can you please explain this sentence to me?
Best Answer
The core idiom here is [WINNER] beat [RIVAL], where beat means outdo, surpass. The full idiom is [WINNER] beat [RIVAL] to [GOAL] by [MARGIN], in which the Goal and Margin phrases are optional.
It may be used in a variety of competitive circumstances — for instance, scientific, political or financial as well as athletic.
Accordingly: