BEAT

I. verb (~; ~en or ~; ~ing) Etymology: Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan; akin to Old High German bōzan to ~ Date: before 12th century transitive verb to strike repeatedly:, to hit repeatedly so as to inflict pain, to walk on ; tread , to strike directly against forcefully and repeatedly ; dash against, to flap or thrash at vigorously, to strike at in order to rouse game, to mix by stirring ; whip , to strike repeatedly in order to produce music or a signal , 2. to drive or force by blows , to pound into a powder, paste, or pulp, to make by repeated treading or driving over , d. to dislodge by repeated hitting , to lodge securely by repeated striking , to shape by ~ing , to sound or express especially by drum~, to cause to strike or flap repeatedly , 4. overcome , defeat , to prevail despite , bewilder , baffle , d. fatigue , exhaust , to leave dispirited, irresolute, or hopeless, cheat , swindle , 5. a. to act ahead of usually so as to forestall, to report a news item in advance of, to come or arrive before, circumvent , to outmaneuver (a defender) and get free, to score against (a goalkeeper), to indicate by ~ing , intransitive verb 1. to become forcefully impelled ; dash , to glare or strike with oppressive intensity, to sustain distracting activity, to ~ a drum, 2. a. pulsate , throb , tick , to sound upon being struck, 3. to strike repeated blows , to strike the air ; flap , to strike cover in order to rouse game, to progress with much difficulty, to sail to windward by a series of tacks, ~able adjective II. noun Date: 1615 1. a single stroke or blow especially in a series, a sound produced by or as if by ~ing, a driving impact or force, one swing of the pendulum or balance of a timepiece, 3. a regularly traversed round , a group of news sources that a reporter covers regularly, 4. a metrical or rhythmic stress in poetry or music or the rhythmic effect of these stresses, the tempo indicated (as by a conductor) to a musical performer, the pronounced rhythm that is the characteristic driving force in some types of music (as jazz or rock), 5. one that excels , the reporting of a news story ahead of competitors, dead~ , 7. an act of ~ing to windward, one of the reaches so traversed ; tack , each of the pulsations of amplitude produced by the union of sound or radio waves or electric currents having different frequencies, an accented stroke (as of one leg or foot against the other) in dancing, moment , ~less adjective III. adjective Etymology: Middle English beten, bete, from past participle of beten Date: 1832 1. being in a state of exhaustion ; exhausted, sapped of resolution or morale, of, relating to, or being ~niks , IV. noun Usage: often capitalized Date: 1957 ~nik