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beat

/biːt/

noun

Meaning

  • A stroke; a blow.

  • A pulsation or throb.

    "a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse"

  • A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.

  • A rhythm.

  • The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency

  • (authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect; a plot point or story development.

  • The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.

  • (by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially

  • An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.

  • That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.

    "the beat of him"

  • A precinct.

  • A place of habitual or frequent resort.

  • A low cheat or swindler.

    "a dead beat"

  • The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.

  • The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.

  • A smart tap on the adversary's blade.

verb

Meaning

  • To hit; strike

    "As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled."

  • To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

    "He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque."

  • To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

  • To move with pulsation or throbbing.

  • To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do better than, outdo, or excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.

    "I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game."

  • To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.

  • To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.

  • To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.

    "Beat the eggs and whip the cream."

  • (In haggling for a price) of a buyer, to persuade the seller to reduce a price

    "He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35."

  • To indicate by beating or drumming.

    "to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters"

  • To tread, as a path.

  • To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

  • To be in agitation or doubt.

  • To make a sound when struck.

    "The drums beat."

  • To make a succession of strokes on a drum.

    "The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters."

  • To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.

  • To arrive at a place before someone.

    "He beat me there."

  • To have sexual intercourse.

    "Bruv, she came in just as we started to beat."

  • To rob.

    "He beat me out of 12 bucks last night."

Synonyms

do it,
get it on,
have sex,
shag,
hammer,
knock,
pound,
strike,
whack,
negotiate

adjective

Meaning

  • Exhausted

    "After the long day, she was feeling completely beat."

  • Dilapidated, beat up

    "Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys."

  • Fabulous

    "Her makeup was beat!"

  • Boring

  • (of a person) ugly

Synonyms

fantabulosa