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.
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).