Overview of noun beats

The noun beats has 1 sense

• beat generation, beats, beatniks -- (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))

Overview of noun beat

The noun beat has 10 senses

• beat, round -- (a regular route for a sentry or policeman; "in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name")


• pulse, pulsation, heartbeat, beat -- (the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart; "he could feel the beat of her heart")


• rhythm, beat, musical rhythm -- (the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music; "the piece has a fast rhythm"; "the conductor set the beat")


• beat -- (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)


• beatnik, beat -- (a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior)


• beat -- (the sound of stroke or blow; "he heard the beat of a drum")


• meter, metre, measure, beat, cadence -- ((prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse)


• beat -- (a regular rate of repetition; "the cox raised the beat")


• beat -- (a stroke or blow; "the signal was two beats on the steam pipe")


• beat -- (the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing)

Overview of verb beat

The verb beat has 23 senses

• beat, beat out, crush, shell, trounce, vanquish -- (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game")


• beat, beat up, work over -- (give a beating to; 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")


• beat -- (hit repeatedly; "beat on the door"; "beat the table with his shoe")


• beat, pound, thump -- (move rhythmically; "Her heart was beating fast")


• beat -- (shape by beating; "beat swords into ploughshares")


• drum, beat, thrum -- (make a rhythmic sound; "Rain drummed against the windshield"; "The drums beat all night")


• beat -- (glare or strike with great intensity; "The sun was beating down on us")


• beat, flap -- (move with a thrashing motion; "The bird flapped its wings"; "The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky")


• beat -- (sail with much tacking or with difficulty; "The boat beat in the strong wind")


• beat, scramble -- (stir vigorously; "beat the egg whites"; "beat the cream")


• beat -- (strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music; "beat one's breast"; "beat one's foot rhythmically")


• beat -- (be superior; "Reading beats watching television"; "This sure beats work!")


• beat, bunk -- (avoid paying; "beat the subway fare")


• tick, ticktock, ticktack, beat -- (make a sound like a clock or a timer; "the clocks were ticking"; "the grandfather clock beat midnight")


• beat, flap -- (move with a flapping motion; "The bird's wings were flapping")


• beat -- (indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks; "Beat the rhythm")


• pulsate, beat, quiver -- (move with or as if with a regular alternating motion; "the city pulsated with music and excitement")


• beat -- (make by pounding or trampling; "beat a path through the forest")


• beat -- (produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly; "beat the drum")


• beat -- (strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting)


• outwit, overreach, outsmart, outfox, beat, circumvent -- (beat through cleverness and wit; "I beat the traffic"; "She outfoxed her competitors")


• perplex, vex, stick, get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose, bewilder, flummox, stupefy, nonplus, gravel, amaze, dumbfound -- (be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This question really stuck me")


• exhaust, wash up, beat, tucker, tucker out -- (wear out completely; "This kind of work exhausts me"; "I'm beat"; "He was all washed up after the exam")