From Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan, from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd-.

Compare Old Irish fobotha, Latin confutō, fūstis ("stick, club"), Albanian bahe, Lithuanian baudžiù, xcl բութ).

• enPR: bēt, IPA: /biːt/

beat (plural beats)

1. A stroke; a blow.
   • 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 ↗:

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

2. A pulsation or throb.

   a beat of the heart

   the beat of the pulse

3. (music) A 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. (music) The 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. (authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.
8. (by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially
   1. The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.

      to walk the beat

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

      Synonyms: newsbeat

9. (dated) An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
   • 1898, unknown author, Scribner's Magazine, volume 24:

     It's a beat on the whole country.

10. (colloquial, dated) That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.

    the beat of him

11. (dated or obsolete, Southern US) A precinct.
12. (dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.
    1. (AU) An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
13. (archaic) A low cheat or swindler.

    a dead beat

    • 1884 December 9, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXVIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC ↗:

      “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.

14. (hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
    • 1911, Hedley Peek, Frederick George Aflalo, Encyclopaedia of Sport:

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

15. (fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
16. (slang) A makeup look; compare beat one's face.

• Russian: уда́р

• French: battement
• Italian: pulsazione, battito
• Portuguese: batida
• Russian: бие́ние
• Spanish: latido, pulsación

• German: Schlag, Grundschlag
• Spanish: pulsaciones (por minuto)

• German: Beat, Takt
• Italian: ritmo, tempo
• Russian: разме́р
• Spanish: ritmo

• German: Schwebung
• Russian: бие́ние

• French: ronde
• Italian: ronda
• Spanish: jurisdicción

• French: secteur
• Spanish: sector, ámbito

• French: domaine
• Spanish: área, sector, ámbito

• French: battue
• Spanish: batida

• Portuguese: batida

beat (beats, present participle beating; simple past beat, past participle beaten)

1. (transitive) To hit; to strike.

   Synonyms: knock, pound, strike, hammer, whack, Thesaurus:attack, Thesaurus:hit

   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.

2. (transitive) To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

   He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.

3. (intransitive) To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Judges 19:22 ↗:

     […] 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 ↗, Jonah 4:8 ↗:

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

4. (intransitive) To move with pulsation or throbbing.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto IV:

     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?’

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

   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.

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

6. (intransitive, nautical) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
7. (transitive) To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
8. To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.

   Beat the eggs and whip the cream.

9. (transitive, UK, in haggling for a price of a buyer) To persuade the seller to reduce a price.

   Synonyms: negotiate

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

10. (transitive) To indicate by beating or drumming.

    to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters

11. To tread, as a path.
12. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
13. To be in agitation or doubt.
    • 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]:

      to still my beating mind

14. To make a sound when struck.

    The drums beat.

15. (military, intransitive) To 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. (transitive) To arrive at a place before someone.

    He beat me there.

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

18. (intransitive, MLE, MTE, slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse.

    Synonyms: do it, get it on, have sex, shag, Thesaurus:copulate

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

19. (transitive, slang) To rob; to cheat or scam.

    He beat me out of 12 bucks last night.

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

• French: battre
• German: schlagen, hauen
• Italian: colpire, battere
• Portuguese: bater
• Russian: бить
• Spanish: golpear, pegar, aporrear, batir, apalizar

• French: battre
• German: schlagen
• Italian: percuotere
• Portuguese: bater
• Russian: бить
• Spanish: percutir, golpear (repetidamente)

• French: battre

• Spanish: (heart) latir (el corazón)

• French: vaincre, battre
• German: schlagen, gewinnen
• Italian: battere
• Portuguese: bater
• Russian: побежда́ть
• Spanish: vencer, derrotar, ganar, aventajar

• French: remonter au vent
• Russian: лави́ровать
• Spanish: barloventear

• French: battre, fouetter
• German: schlagen
• Portuguese: bater
• Russian: взбива́ть
• Spanish: batir, revolver, sacudir

• Russian: сбить (цену)

• French: battre

• French: se mettre martel en tête

• French: battre, griller

From Middle English bet, from Old English bēot.

• enPR: bēt, bĕt, IPA: /biːt/, /bɛt/

1. simple past tense of beat
2. (especially, colloquial) past participle of beat

beat

1. (US slang) Exhausted.

   After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 10, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC ↗, part 2:

     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.

2. (slang) Dilapidated, beat up.

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

3. (AAVE and gay slang) Having impressively attractive makeup.

   Her face was beat for the gods!

4. (slang) Boring.
5. (slang, of a person) Ugly.

• (exhausted) See also Thesaurus:fatigued
• (dilapidated) See also Thesaurus:ramshackle
• (boring) See also Thesaurus:boring
• (ugly) See also Thesaurus:ugly

• French: claqué, crevé, épuisé
• Portuguese: abatido, batido

From beatnik, or beat generation.

• enPR: bēt, IPA: /biːt/

beat (plural beats)

1. A beatnik.

beat

1. Relating to the Beat Generation.

   beat poetry