pulse

pronunciation

How to pronounce pulse in British English: UK [pʌls] word uk audio image

How to pronounce pulse in American English: US [pʌls] word us audio image

Noun:

(electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)
the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
the rate at which the heart beats; usually measured to obtain a quick evaluation of a person's health
edible seeds of various pod-bearing plants (peas or beans or lentils etc.)
Verb:

expand and contract rhythmically; beat rhythmically
produce or modulate (as electromagnetic waves) in the form of short bursts or pulses or cause an apparatus to produce pulses
drive by or as if by pulsation

Word Origin

pulse: pulse: English has two separate words pulse. The older, ‘seeds of beans, lentils, etc’ [13], comes via Old French pols from Latin puls ‘thick gruel (often made from beans and the like)’. This was a relative of Latin pollen ‘flour’ (source of English pollen) and Latin pulvis ‘powder’ (source of English powder and pulverize).Its plural pultes has given English poultice [16]. Pulse ‘beat of the blood’ [14], comes via Old French pouls from Latin pulsus ‘beating’, a noun use of the past participle of pellere ‘drive, beat’ (source of English appeal, compel [14], dispel [17], expel [14], propel [15], and repel [15]). The derivative pulsāre gave English pulsate [18], and also push.=> pollen, poultice, powder, pulverize; appeal, compel, dispel, expel, propel, pulsate, push, repel

pulse (n.1): "a throb, a beat," early 14c., from Old French pous, pulse (late 12c., Modern French pouls) and directly from Latin pulsus (in pulsus venarum "beating from the blood in the veins"), past participle of pellere "to push, drive," from PIE *pel- (6) "to thrust, strike, drive" (cognates: Greek pallein "to wield, brandish, swing," pelemizein "to shake, cause to tremble"). Extended usages from 16c. Figurative use for "life, vitality, essential energy" is from 1530s.

pulse (v.): "to beat, throb," early 15c., from pulse (n.1) or else from Latin pulsare "to beat, throb," and in part from French. Related: Pulsed; pulsing.

pulse (n.2): "peas, beans, lentils," late 13c., from Old French pouls, pols and directly from Latin puls "thick gruel, porridge, mush," probably via Etruscan, from Greek poltos "porridge" made from flour, from PIE *pel- (1) "dust, flour" (see pollen; also compare poultice).