beat

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A stroke

   A stroke; a blow.

   • He, […]with a careless beat, / Struck out the mute creation at a heat.
2. 2

   A pulsation or throb.

   • a beat of the heart
   • the beat of the pulse
3. 3

   A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit.…

   A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.

4. ›+ 41 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A rhythm.

      • I love watching her dance to a pretty drum beat with a bouncy rhythm!
   2. 5

      The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.

   3. 6

      The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency.

   4. 7

      A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.

   5. 8

      An area of a person's responsibility, especially

      • to walk the beat
      • There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss.
   6. 9

      An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival

      An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.

      • It's a beat on the whole country.
   7. 10

      That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.

      • the beat of him
   8. 11

      A precinct.

   9. 12

      A place of habitual or frequent resort.

   10. 13

       A low cheat or swindler.

       • a dead beat
       • “If I get away I sha’n’t be here,” I says, “to prove these rapscallions ain’t your uncles, and I couldn’t do it if I was here. I could swear they was beats and bummers, that’s all, though that’s worth something.
   11. 14

       The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game

       The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.

       • Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.
   12. 15

       A smart tap on the adversary's blade.

   13. 16

       A makeup look

       A makeup look; compare beat one's face.

       • She made sure to give fans all the details about her beat in the caption.
   14. 17

       To hit

       To hit; to strike.

       • As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled.
       • Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall […]
   15. 18

       To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

       • He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.
   16. 19

       To strike repeatedly

       To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

       • […] the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door […]
       • The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.
       • This public envy, seemeth to beat chiefly upon principal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings, and estates themselves.
   17. 20

       To move with pulsation or throbbing.

       • A thousand hearts beat happily.
       • O heart, how fares it with thee now, ⁠That thou should’st fail from thy desire, ⁠Who scarcely darest to inquire, ‘What is it makes me beat so low?’
   18. 21

       To win against

       To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than (someone); to excel in a particular, competitive event.

       • Jan had little trouble beating John in tennis. He lost five games in a row.
       • No matter how quickly Joe finished his test, Roger always beat him.
       • I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
   19. 22

       To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.

   20. 23

       To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game

       To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.

       • The part of the wood to be beaten for deer sloped all the way from the roadside to the loch.
   21. 24

       To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.

       • Beat the eggs and whip the cream.
   22. 25

       To persuade the seller to reduce a price.

       • He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.
   23. 26

       To indicate by beating or drumming.

       • to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters
   24. 27

       To tread, as a path.

       • While I this unexampled task essay, / Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way, / Celestial Dove! divine assistance bring, / Sustain me on thy strong-extended wing,
   25. 28

       To exercise severely

       To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

       • I know not why any one should waste his time, and beat his head about the Latin grammar, who does not intend to be a critick, or make speeches, and write dispatches in it.
   26. 29

       To be in agitation or doubt.

       • to still my beating mind
   27. 30

       To make a sound when struck.

       • The drums beat.
   28. 31

       To make a succession of strokes on a drum.

       • The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
   29. 32

       To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and lesser intensity, so as to…

       To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and lesser intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations not perfectly in unison.

   30. 33

       To arrive at a place before someone.

       • He beat me there.
       • The place is empty; we beat the crowd of people who come at lunch.
   31. 34

       To have sexual intercourse.

       • Bruv, she came in just as we started to beat.
       • Millie B gets ten shags a week. New day, different guy, that's just peek. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat.
   32. 35

       To rob

       To rob; to cheat or scam.

       • He beat me out of 12 bucks last night.
       • I already beat him, but he hasn't realized it yet.
   33. 36

       simple past tense of beat

   34. 37

       past participle of beat

   35. 38

       Exhausted.

       • After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.
       • I stayed in San Francisco a week and had the beatest time of my life. Marylou and I walked around for miles, looking for food-money.
   36. 39

       Dilapidated, beat up.

       • Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys.
   37. 40

       Having impressively attractive makeup.

       • Her face was beat for the gods!
   38. 41

       Boring.

   39. 42

       Ugly.

   40. 43

       A beatnik.

       • The beats were pioneers with no destination, changing the world one impulse at a time.
   41. 44

       Relating to the Beat Generation.

       • beat poetry

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