beat to the punch

beat to the punch (third-person singular simple present beats to the punch, present participle beating to the punch, simple past beat to the punch, past participle beaten to the punch or beat to the punch)

1. (transitive) To do something before somebody else is able to.

   I was planning to take care of the problem for him, but he beat me to the punch and did it himself.

The object typically appears between the verb and the preposition:

Zumbetel was ready to launch the world's thinnest smartphone, but Yalpatel beat them to the punch.

But occasionally other uses can be found:

With their innovative design, Xollatel beat to the punch both of their main competitors.

• beat to
• first blood
• get the drop on