beat

a regular route for a sentry or policeman; "in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name"

the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart; "he could feel the beat of her heart"

the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music; "the piece has a fast rhythm"; "the conductor set the beat"

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; "he heard the beat of a drum"

(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse

a regular rate of repetition; "the cox raised the beat"

a stroke or blow; "the signal was two beats on the steam pipe"

the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game"

give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression; "Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night"; "The teacher used to beat the students"

hit repeatedly; "beat on the door"; "beat the table with his shoe"

move rhythmically; "Her heart was beating fast"

shape by beating; "beat swords into ploughshares"

make a rhythmic sound; "Rain drummed against the windshield"; "The drums beat all night"

glare or strike with great intensity; "The sun was beating down on us"

move with a thrashing motion; "The bird flapped its wings"; "The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky"

sail with much tacking or with difficulty; "The boat beat in the strong wind"

stir vigorously; "beat the egg whites"; "beat the cream"

strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music; "beat one's breast"; "beat one's foot rhythmically"

be superior; "Reading beats watching television"; "This sure beats work!"

avoid paying; "beat the subway fare"

make a sound like a clock or a timer; "the clocks were ticking"; "the grandfather clock beat midnight"

move with a flapping motion; "The bird's wings were flapping"

indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks; "Beat the rhythm"

move with or as if with a regular alternating motion; "the city pulsated with music and excitement"

make by pounding or trampling; "beat a path through the forest"

produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly; "beat the drum"

strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting

beat through cleverness and wit; "I beat the traffic"; "She outfoxed her competitors"

be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This question really stuck me"

wear out completely; "This kind of work exhausts me"; "I'm beat"; "He was all washed up after the exam"

very tired; "was all in at the end of the day"; "so beat I could flop down and go to sleep anywhere"; "bushed after all that exercise"; "I'm dead after that long trip"