beat

Meanings

A stroke; a blow.
A pulsation or throb.
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.
A rhythm.
The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency
A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect; a plot point or story development.
An area of a person's responsibility, especially
An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.
A precinct.
A place of habitual or frequent resort.
A low cheat or swindler.
The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
A makeup look; compare beat one's face.
A beatnik.

To hit; strike
To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.
To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
To move with pulsation or throbbing.
To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than; to excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.
To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.
of a buyer, to persuade the seller to reduce a price
To indicate by beating or drumming.
To tread, as a path.
To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
To be in agitation or doubt.
To make a sound when struck.
To make a succession of strokes on a drum.
To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.
To arrive at a place before someone.
To have sexual intercourse.
To rob.

From Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan ("to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure"), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną ("to push, strike"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd-.
Compare Old Irish fobotha ("he threatened"), Latin confutō ("I strike down"), fūstis, Albanian bahe ("sling"), Lithuanian baudžiù, Old Armenian բութ).
From beatnik, or beat generation.

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