beats Meaning, Definition & Usage

1. noun a United States youth subculture of the 1950s; rejected possessions or regular work or traditional dress; for communal living and psychedelic drugs and anarchism; favored modern forms of jazz (e.g., bebop)
   beatniks; beat generation.
   
2. noun a regular route for a sentry or policeman
   beat; round.
   
   • in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name
3. noun the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
   beat; heartbeat; pulsation; pulse.
   
   • he could feel the beat of her heart
4. noun the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music
   beat; rhythm; musical rhythm.
   
   • the piece has a fast rhythm
   • the conductor set the beat
5. noun 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
   beat.
   
6. noun a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
   beat; beatnik.
   
7. noun the sound of stroke or blow
   beat.
   
   • he heard the beat of a drum
8. noun (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
   beat; metre; cadence; meter; measure.
   
9. noun a regular rate of repetition
   beat.
   
   • the cox raised the beat
10. noun a stroke or blow
    beat.
    
    • the signal was two beats on the steam pipe
11. noun the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
    beat.
    
12. verb come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
    shell; beat; trounce; crush; beat out; vanquish.
    
    • Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship
    • We beat the competition
    • Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game
13. verb give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression
    beat; beat up; work over.
    
    • Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night
    • The teacher used to beat the students
14. verb hit repeatedly
    beat.
    
    • beat on the door
    • beat the table with his shoe
15. verb move rhythmically
    beat; pound; thump.
    
    • Her heart was beating fast
16. verb shape by beating
    beat.
    
    • beat swords into ploughshares
17. verb make a rhythmic sound
    beat; drum; thrum.
    
    • Rain drummed against the windshield
    • The drums beat all night
18. verb glare or strike with great intensity
    beat.
    
    • The sun was beating down on us
19. verb move with a thrashing motion
    beat; flap.
    
    • The bird flapped its wings
    • The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky
20. verb sail with much tacking or with difficulty
    beat.
    
    • The boat beat in the strong wind
21. verb stir vigorously
    beat; scramble.
    
    • beat the egg whites
    • beat the cream
22. verb strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music
    beat.
    
    • beat one's breast
    • beat one's foot rhythmically
23. verb be superior
    beat.
    
    • Reading beats watching television
    • This sure beats work!
24. verb avoid paying
    beat; bunk.
    
    • beat the subway fare
25. verb make a sound like a clock or a timer
    beat; tick; ticktack; ticktock.
    
    • the clocks were ticking
    • the grandfather clock beat midnight
26. verb move with a flapping motion
    beat; flap.
    
    • The bird's wings were flapping
27. verb indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks
    beat.
    
    • Beat the rhythm
28. verb move with or as if with a regular alternating motion
    beat; pulsate; quiver.
    
    • the city pulsated with music and excitement
29. verb make by pounding or trampling
    beat.
    
    • beat a path through the forest
30. verb produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly
    beat.
    
    • beat the drum
31. verb strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
    beat.
    
32. verb beat through cleverness and wit
    outsmart; beat; overreach; outwit; outfox; circumvent.
    
    • I beat the traffic
    • She outfoxed her competitors
33. verb be a mystery or bewildering to
    mystify; perplex; bewilder; get; beat; puzzle; pose; amaze; vex; baffle; flummox; stick; stupefy; gravel; nonplus; dumbfound.
    
    • This beats me!
    • Got me--I don't know the answer!
    • a vexing problem
    • This question really stuck me
34. verb wear out completely
    wash up; exhaust; tucker; beat; tucker out.
    
    • This kind of work exhausts me
    • I'm beat
    • He was all washed up after the exam

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