Meaning

verb moderate or restrain; lessen the force of

verb flap the wings wildly or frantically; used of falcons

verb soak in a special solution to soften and remove chemicals used in previous treatments

originFormed by analogy with eat → ate or other Class 5 strong verbs (compare gave, obsolete spake, etc.), with which it shares an analogous past participle (eaten → beaten).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0