beat off with a stick

beat off with a stick (third-person singular simple present beats off with a stick, present participle beating off with a stick, simple past beat off with a stick, past participle beaten off with a stick)

1. (transitive, idiomatic, informal) To reject (a person making an unwanted amorous approach).
   • 2006, Tony Attwood, Temple Grandin, Asperger's and Girls:

     I mentioned that while pictures from my teens and twenties showed I was pretty cute, somehow I'd never attracted many guys, while my (no-less-adorable) kid sister had to beat them off with a stick.

   • 2018, Simon Hooper, Dadlife:

     After about sixteen weeks, Clemmie obviously took a swim in a hormone bath because suddenly she was all over me like a rash that no ointment could cure – I couldn't beat her off with a stick so we had sex.

   • 2019, K. A. Ray, Racing Hearts:

     He probably had more women than he could beat off with a stick. His kind always did.

• Often used with "have to" or in conditional statements, e.g. I could beat them off with a stick