Beat n.
 1. A stroke; a blow.
 He, with a careless beat,
 Struck out the mute creation at a heat.   --Dryden.
 2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse.
 3. Mus. (a) 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. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.
 4. Acoustics & Mus. A sudden swelling or reënforcement 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.
 5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat.
 6. A place of habitual or frequent resort.
 7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, deadbeat. [Low]
 Beat of drum Mil., a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc.
 Beat of a watch, or Beat of a clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement.  A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals.