beat the bushes for
Look everywhere for something or someone, as in I've been beating the bushes for a substitute but haven't had any luck. This term originally alluded to hunting, when beaters were hired to flush birds out of the brush. [1400s] Also see beat around the bush.
beat the bushes for, to
To seek out assiduously. The term comes from hunting, in the days when beaters were employed to flush birds out for a hunting party, and has been used in its literal sense since the fifteenth century.