Dictionary
List of exercises
Exercises by level
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
OK
Meaning of beat in English
Pronunciation
/bit/
US accent
Your browser does not support the audio element.
How to pronounce beat in American English, in context
▾
Use the controls below
to browse different examples of pronunciation.
UK accent
Your browser does not support the audio element.
How to pronounce beat in British English, in context
▾
Use the controls below
to browse different examples of pronunciation.
Verb
beat
Etymology
Old English bēatan, of Germanic origin
Definitions
1.
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
Examples
« Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship »
« We beat the competition »
« Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game »
2.
give a beating to
Examples
« subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression »
« Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night »
« The teacher used to beat the students »
3.
hit repeatedly
Examples
« beat on the door »
« beat the table with his shoe »
4.
move rhythmically
Examples
« Her heart was beating fast »
5.
shape by beating
Examples
« beat swords into ploughshares »
6.
make a rhythmic sound
Examples
« Rain drummed against the windshield »
« The drums beat all night »
7.
glare or strike with great intensity
Examples
« The sun was beating down on us »
8.
move with a thrashing motion
Examples
« The bird flapped its wings »
« The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky »
9.
sail with much tacking or with difficulty
Examples
« The boat beat in the strong wind »
10.
stir vigorously
Examples
« beat the egg whites »
« beat the cream »
11.
strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music
Examples
« beat one's breast »
« beat one's foot rhythmically »
12.
be superior
Examples
« Reading beats watching television »
« This sure beats work! »
13.
avoid paying
Examples
« beat the subway fare »
14.
make a sound like a clock or a timer
Examples
« the clocks were ticking »
« the grandfather clock beat midnight »
15.
move with a flapping motion
Examples
« The bird's wings were flapping »
16.
indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks
Examples
« Beat the rhythm »
17.
move with or as if with a regular alternating motion
Examples
« the city pulsated with music and excitement »
18.
make by pounding or trampling
Examples
« beat a path through the forest »
19.
produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly
Examples
« beat the drum »
20.
strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
21.
beat through cleverness and wit
Examples
« I beat the traffic »
« She outfoxed her competitors »
22.
be a mystery or bewildering to
Examples
« This beats me! »
« Got me--I don't know the answer! »
« a vexing problem »
« This question really stuck me »
23.
wear out completely
Examples
« This kind of work exhausts me »
« I'm beat »
« He was all washed up after the exam »
Noun
beat
Definitions
1.
a regular route for a sentry or policeman
Examples
« in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name »
2.
the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
Examples
« he could feel the beat of her heart »
3.
the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music
Examples
« the piece has a fast rhythm »
« the conductor set the beat »
4.
a single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies
Examples
« has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations »
5.
a member of the beat generation
Examples
« a nonconformist in dress and behavior »
6.
the sound of stroke or blow
Examples
« he heard the beat of a drum »
7.
(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
8.
a regular rate of repetition
Examples
« the cox raised the beat »
9.
a stroke or blow
Examples
« the signal was two beats on the steam pipe »
10.
the act of beating to windward
Examples
« sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing »