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beat
Beat is defined as 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.
The definition of beat is 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 means 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.
To 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.
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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
- to form by repeated treading or riding: to beat a path through grass
- 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
- to defeat in a race, contest, or struggle; overcome
- to outdo or surpass
- 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)
Origin: ME beten < OE beatan < IE *bhaut- < base *bhau-, *bhū-, to strike, beat > beetle, butt & butt, L fustis, a club
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
- to make a sound by being struck, as a drum
- 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
- a habitual path or round of duty: a policeman's beat
- the subject or area assigned regularly to a news writer
- the unit of musical rhythm: four beats to a measure
- the accent or stress in the rhythm of verse or music
- 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
- ☆
- beatnik
- 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
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Informal Worn-out; fatigued.
- often Beat Of or relating to the Beat Generation.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English beten
Origin: , from Old English bēaten; see bhau- in Indo-European roots
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