what does "to" mean here?
He beat me to the punch and did it himself.

I know the meaning of this idiom'beat sb to the punch', but I can not figure out what the ' to ' here means.it appear to have nothing to do with "before".As a preposition in 'beat someone to the punch', what does 'to' mean here?

Question

what does "to" mean here?
He beat me to the punch and did it himself.

I know the meaning of this idiom'beat sb to the punch', but I can not figure out what the ' to ' here means.it appear to have nothing to do with "before".As a preposition in 'beat someone to the punch', what does 'to' mean here?

Answer

'beat somebody to the punch'
To do something before someone else can do it "I wanted to give my mother a camera, but my brother beat me to the punch."
 Etymology: from boxing, in which good fighters are quick to react by punching (hitting) the other fighter before they are hit.

In this case I think 'he' meant that the other hit him before 'he' ~
source: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/beat+to+the+punch

Answer

florence,

"To" can indicate movement towards a place.   He beat me to the car.  = He arrived first at he car.

the punch = the action of punching
"To" can also indicate movement toward the accomplishment of an intention, or a result
He beat me to the punch.= He beat me to the action of punching. He punched first.
We were both trying to punch and he accomplished it first.

They came to my aid. = They came with the intention of aiding me.

Answer

The to is a word implying distance.  Beat implies time.  Put them together and he finessed getting (to) something done before (beat) she could.

Answer

I don't really understand what you're trying to ask.