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Beat is a rhythmic movement or is the speed at which a piece of music is played. (noun)

An example of beat is the beating of a heart.
An example of beat is the rhythmic noise played on a drum.
An example of a beat is the tempo at which a conductor leads an orchestra to play.

Beat describes someone or something that is extremely tired and/or worn out. (adjective)

An example of beat is a person who has just worked 16 hours on his feet.

Beat is to hit something over and over again or to form or mix something. (verb)

An example of beat is to hit a rug with a stick in order to get the dirt out.
An example of beat is to tap a drum.
An example of beat is to stir heavy cream rapidly, turning it into whipped cream.
An example of beat is to walk repeatedly through the snow from the house to the garage, resulting in a walkway being created.

Beat is to win, or to arrive first for something. (verb)

An example of beat is to win a game of checkers against an opponent.
An example of beat is to arrive first at the finish line in a race.

See beat in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb beat, beaten, beating

to hit or strike repeatedly; pound
to punish by striking repeatedly and hard; whip, flog, spank, etc.
to dash repeatedly against: waves beat the shore
1. to form by repeated treading or riding: to beat a path through grass
2. to keep walking on: to beat the pavements
to shape or flatten by hammering; forge
to mix by stirring or striking repeatedly with a utensil; whip (an egg, cream, etc.)
to move (esp. wings) up and down; flap; flail
to hunt through; search: the posse beat the countryside for the fugitive
to make, force, or drive by or as by hitting, flailing, or pounding: to beat one's way through a crowd, to beat chalk dust from erasers
1. to defeat in a race, contest, or struggle; overcome
2. to outdo or surpass
3. to act, arrive, or finish before
to mark (time or rhythm) by tapping, etc.
to sound or signal, as by a drumbeat
Informal to baffle or puzzle
☆ Informal to cheat or trick
☆ Slang to avoid the penalties associated with (a charge, indictment, etc.); escape (a rap)

intransitive verb

to strike, hit, or dash repeatedly and, usually, hard
to move or sound rhythmically; throb, pulsate, vibrate, tick, etc.
to strike about in or hunt through underbrush, woods, etc. for game
to take beating or stirring: this cream doesn't beat well
1. to make a sound by being struck, as a drum
2. to beat a drum, as to sound a signal
Informal to win
Naut. to progress by tacking into the wind
Radio to combine two waves of different frequencies, thus producing an additional frequency equal to the difference between these

noun

a beating, as of the heart
any of a series of blows or strokes
any of a series of movements or sounds; throb
1. a habitual path or round of duty: a policeman's beat
2. the subject or area assigned regularly to a news writer
1. the unit of musical rhythm: four beats to a measure
2. the accent or stress in the rhythm of verse or music
3. the gesture of the hand, baton, etc. used to mark this
Ballet a movement in which one leg is brought in contact with the other or both legs are brought together in the air
☆ Informal a person or thing that surpasses: you never saw the beat of it
☆
1. beatnik
2. any of a group of U.S. writers in the 1950s and 1960s whose work grew out of and expressed beat attitudes
Acoustics the regularly recurring fluctuation in loudness of sound produced by two simultaneous tones of nearly equal frequency
☆ Journalism a reporting of a news item ahead of all rivals; scoop
Naut. a tack into the wind
Radio one cycle of a frequency formed by beating

adjective

Informal tired out; exhausted, physically or emotionally
☆ of or belonging to a group of young persons, esp. of the 1950s, rebelling against conventional attitudes, dress, speech, etc., largely as an expression of social disillusionment

See beat in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(bēt)

verb beat beat, beat·en (bētˈn) or beat, beat·ing, beats

verb, transitive

a. To strike repeatedly.
b. To subject to repeated beatings or physical abuse; batter.
c. To punish by hitting or whipping; flog.
a. To strike against repeatedly and with force; pound: waves beating the shore.
b. To flap, especially wings.
c. To strike so as to produce music or a signal: beat a drum.
d. Music To mark or count (time or rhythm), especially with the hands or with a baton.
a. To shape or break by repeated blows; forge: beat the glowing metal into a dagger.
b. To make by pounding or trampling: beat a path through the jungle.
To mix rapidly with a utensil: beat two eggs in a bowl.
a. To defeat or subdue, as in a contest.
b. To force to withdraw or retreat: beat back the enemy.
c. To dislodge from a position: I beat him down to a lower price.
Informal To be superior to or better than: Riding beats walking.
Slang To perplex or baffle: It beats me; I don't know the answer.
Informal
a. To avoid or counter the effects of, often by thinking ahead; circumvent: beat the traffic.
b. To arrive or finish before (another): We beat you home by five minutes.
c. To deprive, as by craft or ability: He beat me out of 20 dollars with his latest scheme.
Physics To cause a reference wave to combine with (a second wave) so that the frequency of the second wave can be studied through time variations in the amplitude of the combination.

verb, intransitive

To inflict repeated blows.
To pulsate; throb.
a. To emit sound when struck: The gong beat thunderously.
b. To strike a drum.
To flap repeatedly.
To shine or glare intensely: The sun beat down on us all day.
To fall in torrents: The rain beat on the roof.
To hunt through woods or underbrush in search of game.
Nautical To sail in the direction from which the wind blows.

noun

A stroke or blow, especially one that produces a sound or serves as a signal.
A pulsation or throb.
Physics A variation in amplitude that results from the superpositioning of two or more waves of different frequencies. When sound waves are combined, the variation is heard as a pulsation in the sound.
Music
a. A steady succession of units of rhythm.
b. A gesture used by a conductor to indicate such a unit.
A pattern of stress that produces the rhythm of verse.
A variable unit of time measuring a pause taken by an actor, as for dramatic effect.
a. The area regularly covered by a reporter, a police officer, or a sentry: television's culture beat.
b. The reporting of a news item obtained ahead of one's competitors.
often Beat A member of the Beat Generation.

adjective

Informal Worn-out; fatigued.
often Beat Of or relating to the Beat Generation.

Phrasal Verbs: beat off To drive away. Vulgar Slang To masturbate. beat out Baseball To reach base safely on (a bunt or ground ball) when a putout is attempted.

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