Beat Definition | What is Beat? - PoetrySoup

[n] the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
[n] a stroke or blow; "the signal was two beats on the steam pipe"
[n] a regular rate of repetition; "the cox raised the beat"
[n] the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music; "the piece has a fast rhythm"; "the conductor set the beat"
[n] (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
[n] the sound of stroke or blow; "he heard the beat of a drum"
[n] the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart; "he could feel the beat of her heart"
[n] a regular route for a sentry or policeman; "in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name"
[n] a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
[n] 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
[v] be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"
[v] wear out completely; "This kind of work exhausts me"; "I'm beat"; "He was all washed up after the exam"
[v] 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"
[v] beat through cleverness and wit; "I beat the traffic"; "She outfoxed her competitors"
[v] make by pounding or trampling; "beat a path through the forest"
[v] 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"
[v] hit repeatedly; "beat on the door"; "beat the table with his shoe"
[v] strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
[v] 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"
[v] stir vigorously; "beat the egg whites"; "beat the cream"
[v] shape by beating; "beat swords into ploughshares"
[v] produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly; "beat the drum"
[v] move with or as if with a regular alternating motion; "the city pulsated with music and excitement"
[v] move rhythmically; "Her heart was beating fast"
[v] indicate by beating; as with the fingers or drumsticks; "Beat the rhythm"
[v] sail with much tacking or with difficulty; "The boat beat in the strong wind"
[v] move with a flapping motion; "The bird's wings were flapping"
[v] move with a thrashing motion; "The bird flapped its wings"; "The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky"
[v] glare or strike with great intensity; "The sun was beating down on us"
[v] make a rhythmic sound; "Rain drummed against the windshield"; "The drums beat all night"
[v] make a sound like a clock or a timer; "the clocks were ticking"; "the grandfather clock beat midnight"
[v] deprive somebody of something by deceit; "The con-man beat me out of $50"; "This salesman ripped us off!"; "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme"; "They chiseled me out of my money"
[v] be superior; "Reading beats watching television"; "This sure beats work!"

The rhythmic or musical quality of a poem. In metrical verse, this is determined by the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. However, free verse often features a beat e.g. the work of Walt Whitman. Beat is one of the main things distinguishing poetry from prose.

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Synonyms

amaze, baffle, beat out, beat up, beatnik, bewilder, cadence, cheat, chisel, crush, drum, dumbfound, exhaust, flummox, get, gravel, heartbeat, measure, meter, musical rhythm, mystify, nonplus, perplex, pose, pound, pulsate, pulsation, pulse, puzzle, quive

See Also...

agitate, backbeat, baste, bastinado, bat, bate, batter, be, beat generation, beat out, beatniks, beats, bedevil, beetle, befuddle, beguile, belabor, belabour, best, bilk, bunco, cane, cheat, checkmate, chicane, chouse, clap, clobber, clobber, coldcock, common measure, common meter, commove, con, confound, confuse, cozen, cream, create, deceive, deck, defeat, defraud, delude, diastole, diddle, discombobulate, displace, disturb, downbeat, drub, dump, eliminate, elude, escape, exceed, fag, fag out, fatigue, figure out, flail, flail, flap, fleece, flog, floor, flutter, foot, forge, form, fox, frazzle, fuddle, gazump, get the jump, glare, go, goldbrick, gyp, hammer, hammer, hit, hoodwink, hook, immobilise, immobilize, itinerary, jade, jockey, juggle, kayo, knock cold, knock down, knock out, lam, lambast, lambaste, larrup, lash, lather, lead on, lick, lick, make, mate, metrical foot, metrical unit, mix up, mold, mop up, mould, move, mulct, musical time, nobble, nonconformist, oscillation, outdo, outfight, outflank, outgo, outmatch, outplay, outpoint, outscore, outstrip, outwear, overcharge, overcome, overmaster, overpower, overwhelm, pace, paddle, palpitate, paste, path, periodic event, pip, pistol-whip, play, play, pluck, plume, poetic rhythm, pounding, prosody, puzzle out, puzzle over, rack up, raise up, rate, recurrent event, recusant, rhythmic pattern, riddle, rob, rook, rough up, rout, route, sail, sailing, scam, scansion, scoop, screw, shaft, shake up, shape, slash, soak, soak, solve, sound, sound, spank, spreadeagle, spread-eagle, stagger, stir up, strap, strike, stroke, strong-arm, stump, surcharge, surmount, surpass, swindle, syncopation, systole, tap out, thrash, thrash, thrash, thresh, thresh, throb, throbbing, throw, thump out, tire, tire out, trample, tread, trounce, trump, upbeat, vex, vibration, victimise, victimize, wear, wear down, wear out, wear upon, weary, welsh, welt, whang, whip, whip, whipsaw, whisk, whomp, win, work, work, work out, worst

Related Terms

about ship, abrade, abscond, accent, accentuation, addle, addled, aerate, agitate, air lane, Alexandrine, all in, all up with, alternation, amaze, ambit, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, andante tempo, antispast, area, arena, arrhythmia, arsis,

Group of American poets - including Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kenneth Rexroth - who were disaffected by contemporary society. The word 'beat' comes from 'beat' as in music, 'beat' as in defeated and 'beat' as in to beatify or make blessed. Beat poetry had a big impact upon the lyrics of singers such as Bob Dylan, Patti Smith and Tom Waits.

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[adj] informal terms; strikingly unconventional

Work which is quirky or unconventional.

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Synonyms

far-out, kinky, quirky, unconventional, way-out

Related Terms

bar beat, beat, bizarre, Bohemian, breakaway, contrasting, counter, deviant, different, disparate, dissimilar, divergent, diverse, downbeat, eccentric, far out, freaky, free and easy, fringy, hardly like, heretical, heterodox, hippie, idiosyncratic, infor