先手を打つ,機先を制するの意味にもなります。beat someone to the punchといいます。主語がI、weなら先を越すの意味になります。本来ならbeat someone to the draw(drawは拳銃を引き抜くこと）つまり西部劇の決闘で相手よりも先に拳銃を抜くことです。
下のビデオの1:03もみてください。
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve8vsIntwYc 1:14 she wanted to make sure that no-one else will beat her to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGt51AR4Uo 1:49 he was just beaten to it by Norwegian Roald Amundsen スコットはノルウェー人のロアール・アムンセンに人類初の南極点到達をさらわれた。
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jBB5iibKy0 7:39 Scott, as many of you would know, was just beaten to it by Roald Amundsen and his Norwegian team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxZQgHsx9tA 2:16 a 11-year-old fan Jeffrey Meyer beats him to the punch
参考リンク
http://bridge-english.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_26.html お株を奪うを英語でなんと言うか？
練習問題解答
a-1154 beat them to it
a-1306 beat her to it
a-2580 beat it to the punch
a-3251 beat me to it
a-6972 beat them to it
b-5486 beat them to the pipe
