To beat around the bush is to avoid saying the main thing directly. Stop beating around the bush, do not beat around the bush, he beat around the bush.
The older British form is beat about the bush, and it comes from hunting, where beaters worked the edges of cover to drive birds out rather than going in. It is nearly always an impatient complaint.
1phrasebeat around the bushTo avoid saying the main thing directly.
“Don't beat around the bush; just tell me what went wrong.”
beat around the bush is an avoiding.
Also accepted in games: beat about the bush
From the older beat about the bush, from hunting, where beaters worked the edges of cover rather than entering it.
From the older form beat about the bush, replacing the preposition.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Idioms