of beat-of beat-to strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum.-to punish by blows; to thrash.-to scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game.-to dash against, or strike, as with water or wind.-to tread, as a path.-to overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish or conquer; to surpass.-to cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out.-to exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.-to give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. see alarm, charge, parley, etc.-to strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.-to move with pulsation or throbbing.-to come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as, rain, wind, and waves do.-to be in agitation or doubt.-to make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.-to make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat.-to make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.-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.-a stroke; a blow.-a recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse.-the rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. in the rhythm of music the beat is the unit.-a transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.-a sudden swelling or reenforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. see beat, v. i., 8.-a round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat.-a place of habitual or frequent resort.-a cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat.-weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted.