beat

plural beats

1. A stroke; a blow.

   He, […]with a careless beat, / Struck out the mute creation at a heat.

   1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC

2. A pulsation or throb.

   a beat of the heart

   2 more examples

   the beat of the pulse

   With each beat, your heart's left ventricle pumps blood into your arteries, which are all different sizes.

   2026, Ginny Graves, “The Most Important Health Metric You're Not Tracking”, in Men's Health, volume 41, number 2, page 19

3. entertainmentA 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.
4. A rhythm.

   I love watching her dance to a pretty drum beat with a bouncy rhythm!

   1. entertainmentThe rhythm signalled by a conductor or other musician to the members of a group of musicians.
5. The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
6. The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency.
7. authorshipA short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.
8. An area of a person's responsibility, especially
   1. broadlyThe route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.

      to walk the beat

      3 more examples

      There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss.

      1886, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 3, in A Study in Scarlet

      […]the rise of embedding police into schools – so-called School Resource Officers (SROs), who are employed by the local police, but whose “beat” is a school. Those officers report to the local police department and not the school, and can, and frequently do, have different priorities.

      2019 January 29, Mike Masnick, “How My High School Destroyed An Immigrant Kid's Life Because He Drew The School's Mascot”, in Techdirt

      "We are looking at being able to fly [drones] tens of miles from base, which is going to make a huge difference. It is the equivalent of having bobbies on the beat."

      2025 July 23, Paul Clifton, “Air force: drones' developing railway role”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 31

   2. broadlyjournalismThe primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).

      As an adult, I became a journalist whose beat is the environment. In a way, I’ve turned my youthful preoccupations into a profession.

      2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophehttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/04/why-we-wont-avoid-a-climate-catastrophe-feature/”, in National Geographic

      Synonyms: newsbeat

9. datedAn act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.

   It's a beat on the whole country.

   1898, unknown author, Scribner's Magazine, volume 24

10. colloquialdatedThat which beats, or surpasses, another or others.

    the beat of him

11. Southern USdatedobsoleteA precinct.
12. datedA place of habitual or frequent resort.
    1. AustraliadatedAn area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
13. archaicA low cheat or swindler.

    a dead beat

    1 more example

    “If I get away I sha’n’t be here,” I says, “to prove these rapscallions ain’t your uncles, and I couldn’t do it if I was here. I could swear they was beats and bummers, that’s all, though that’s worth something.

    1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXVIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC

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

    Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.

    1911, Hedley Peek, Frederick George Aflalo, Encyclopaedia of Sport

15. fencingA smart tap on the adversary's blade.
16. slangA makeup look; compare beat one's face.

    She made sure to give fans all the details about her beat in the caption.

    2018, Leah Prinzivalli, “Kylie Jenner Shared a Sneak Peek of Her New Kylie Cosmetics Blush on Instagram”, in Allure

present singular third person beats · participle present beating · nonstandard past beated · participle past beaten · nonstandard participle past beated · archaic present second person singular beatest · archaic past second person singular beatest · present singular third person beats · archaic present singular third person beateth · participle present beating · participle past beaten

1. transitiveTo hit; to 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.

   4 more examples

   Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall […]

   1825?, “Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder”, in The Newgate Calendar: comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters, page 231

   The case of a woman named Qu Hua from Qiqihaer, Heilongjiang, illustrates this possibility. She married a worker named Xu Baocheng in 1980, and they got along very well until she gave birth to a girl. Then Xu immediately began to beat Qu, and forced her and the baby to live in a small shack.

   1988, Emily Honig, Gail Hershatter, “Divorce”, in Personal Voices: Chinese Women in the 1980's, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 219

   In this account of events, the cards were stacked against Clemons from the beginning. His appeal lawyers have argued that he was physically beaten into making a confession, the jury was wrongfully selected and misdirected, and his conviction largely achieved on individual testimony with no supporting forensic evidence presented.

   2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian

   The attack also afforded Helena to a front-seat view of literal air-to-air melee combat, as one Wildcat pilot of the Cactus Air Force, who was swooping in to help break up the attack, found himself out of machine-gun ammo; instead, he dropped his landing gear, positioned himself above the nearest bomber, and begun beating it to death, in midair, using his landing gear as clubs. After a bit of evasive action that the fighter easily kept up with, the repeated slamming broke something important, and the bomber spiralled down into the sea.

   2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 5:50 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 17 Oct 2022

   Synonyms: knock, pound, strike, hammer, whack, abuse, aggress, assail

2. transitiveTo strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

   He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.

3. intransitiveTo strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

   Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below.

   1662 January 1, John Dryden, To the Lord Chancellor Hyde, line 144

   4 more examples

   […] the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door […]

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 19:22

   The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jonah 4:8

   This public envy, seemeth to beat chiefly upon principal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings, and estates themselves.

   1625, Francis Bacon, “Of Envy”, in Essayes

   What tale do the roaring ocean, / And the nightwind, bleak and wild, / As they beat at the crazy casement, / Tell to that little child?

   1850, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Twilight”, in The Seaside and the Fireside

4. intransitiveTo move with pulsation or throbbing.

   A thousand hearts beat happily.

   1812–18, George Gordon Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto 3, verse 21

   1 more example

   O heart, how fares it with thee now, ⁠That thou should’st fail from thy desire, ⁠Who scarcely darest to inquire, ‘What is it makes me beat so low?’

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

5. transitiveTo win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than (someone); to excel in a particular, competitive event.

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

   3 more examples

   Jan had little trouble beating John in tennis. He lost five games in a row.

   No matter how quickly Joe finished his test, Roger always beat him.

   There's nothing in this world beats a 52 Vincent and a red-headed girl.

   1991, Richard Thompson, “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”

6. intransitivenauticalTo sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
7. transitiveTo strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.

   The part of the wood to be beaten for deer sloped all the way from the roadside to the loch.

   1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 81

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

   Beat the eggs and whip the cream.

9. UKtransitiveTo persuade the seller to reduce a price.

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

   Synonyms: negotiate

10. transitiveTo indicate by beating or drumming.

    to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters

11. To tread, as a path.

    While I this unexampled task essay, / Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way, / Celestial Dove! divine assistance bring, / Sustain me on thy strong-extended wing,

    1712, Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem, book 1

12. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

    I know not why any one should waste his time, and beat his head about the Latin grammar, who does not intend to be a critick, or make speeches, and write dispatches in it.

    1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

13. To be in agitation or doubt.

    to still my beating mind

    1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

14. To make a sound when struck.

    The drums beat.

15. intransitivegovernmentTo make a succession of strokes on a drum.

    The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.

16. To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and lesser intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations not perfectly in unison.
17. transitiveTo arrive at a place before someone.

    He beat me there.

    1 more example

    The place is empty; we beat the crowd of people who come at lunch.

18. Multicultural London EnglishintransitiveslangvulgarTo have sexual intercourse.

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

    1 more example

    Millie B gets ten shags a week. New day, different guy, that's just peek. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat.

    2017-02-08, “Big (Millie B reply)”performed by Sophie Aspin

    Synonyms: do it, get it on, have sex, shag, approach, cohabit, common, company

19. slangtransitiveTo rob; to cheat or scam.

    He beat me out of 12 bucks last night.

    2 more examples

    I already beat him, but he hasn't realized it yet.

    When one of 'em runs up a bill here, then goes off and deals somewhere else, and dodges me every time he sees me, that's the man I'm after with a sharp stick. [...] Honest people often get into tight places, and we would rather help 'em than hurt 'em then. But some just try to beat you.

    1900, Fame, quoting Retail Trade Advocate, page 472

1. simple past tense of beat
2. colloquialespeciallyparticiplepastpast participle of beat

comparative more beat · superlative most beat

1. USslangExhausted.

   After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.

   1 more example

   I stayed in San Francisco a week and had the beatest time of my life. Marylou and I walked around for miles, looking for food-money.

   1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 10, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2

2. slangDilapidated, beat up.

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

3. African-American Vernacular and gay slangHaving impressively attractive makeup.

   Her face was beat for the gods!

4. slangBoring.
5. slangUgly.

plural beats · alternative Beat

1. A beatnik.

   The beats were pioneers with no destination, changing the world one impulse at a time.

   2008 March, David Wills, Beatdom, number 3

comparative more beat · superlative most beat · alternative Beat

1. Relating to the Beat Generation.

   beat poetry