beat
pronunciation
How to pronounce beat in British English:
UK [biːt]
How to pronounce beat in American English:
US [biːt]
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- Noun:
- a regular route for a sentry or policeman
- the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
- the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music
- a single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies; has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations
- a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
- the sound of stroke or blow
- (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
- a regular rate of repetition
- a stroke or blow
- the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
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- Verb:
- come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
- give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression
- hit repeatedly
- move rhythmically
- shape by beating
- make a rhythmic sound
- glare or strike with great intensity
- move with a thrashing motion
- sail with much tacking or with difficulty
- stir vigorously
- strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music
- be superior
- avoid paying
- make a sound like a clock or a timer
- move with a flapping motion
- indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks
- move with or as if with a regular alternating motion
- make by pounding or trampling
- produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly
- strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
- beat through cleverness and wit
- be a mystery or bewildering to
- wear out completely
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- Adjective:
- very tired
Word Origin
- beat
- beat: [OE] Old English bēatan and the related Old Norse bauta may be traced back to a prehistoric Germanic *bautan. It has been conjectured that this could be connected with *fu-, the base of Latin confūtāre and refūtāre (source respectively of English confute [16] and refute [16]) and of Latin fustis ‘club’ (from which English gets fusty [14]).=> beetle, confute, fusty, refute
- beat (v.)
- Old English beatan "inflict blows on, thrash" (class VII strong verb; past tense beot, past participle beaten), from Proto-Germanic *bautan (cognates: Old Norse bauta, Old High German bozan "to beat"), from PIE root *bhau- "to strike" (see batter (v.)). Of the heart, c. 1200, from notion of it striking against the breast. Meaning "to overcome in a contest" is from 1610s (the source of the sense of "legally avoid, escape" in beat the charges, etc., attested from c. 1920 in underworld slang). Past tense beat is from c. 1500, probably not from Old English but a shortening of Middle English beted. Dead-beat (originally "tired-out") preserves the old past participle. Meaning "strike cover to rouse or drive game" (c. 1400) is source of beat around the bush (1570s), the metaphoric sense of which has shifted from "make preliminary motions" to "avoid, evade." Command beat it "go away" first recorded 1906 (though "action of feet upon the ground" was a sense of Old English betan). To beat off "masturbate" is recorded by 1960s. For beat generation see beatnik.
- beat (n.)
- c. 1300, "a beating, whipping; the beating of a drum," from beat (v.). As "throb of the heart" from 1755. Meaning "regular route travelled by someone" is attested from 1731, also "a track made by animals" (1736), from the sense of the "beat" of the feet on the ground (late Old English), or perhaps that in beat the bushes to flush game (c. 1400), or beat the bounds (1560s). Extended to journalism by 1875. Musical sense is by 1842, perhaps from the motion of the conductor and the notion of "beating the time": It is usual, in beating the time of a piece of music, to mark or signalize the commencement of every measure by a downward movement or beat of the hand, or of any other article that may be used for the purpose .... ["Godfrey Weber's General Music Teacher," 1842] Earlier in music it meant a sort of grace note: BEAT, in music, a transient grace note, struck immediately before the note it is intended to ornament. The beat always lies half a note beneath its principal, and should be heard so closely upon it, that they may almost seem to be struck together. ["The British Encyclopedia," London, 1809]
- beat (adj.)
- "defeated, overcome by effort," c. 1400, from past tense of beat (v.). Meaning "tired, exhausted," is by 1905, American English.
Example
- 1. If you can 't beat him , join him .
- 2. She beat me up and stopped giving food .
- 3. Mr obama beat john mccain by seven points .
- 4. Did they beat the market ?
- 5. Cardiac muscle cells , or cardiomyocytes , are what makes the heart beat .