Years of failure had 'beaten' him 'down'. [=had caused him to lose hope or spirit]
This problem has 'beaten' everyone. [=no one has been able to solve this problem]
a politician who is getting 'beat/beaten up' by liberal/conservative critics
(..) It's just staying. All my life I've been searching for distractions and you were the best distraction and now I don't even have you because I've beaten you. And you know what? In the end, it was easy. It was easy. Now I've got to go back to playing with the ordinary people, (..)2012 TvShow: Sherlock Title: The Reichenbach Fall Season: 2 Episode 3