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Pulsation; throbbing; as, the beating of the heart.

ting, with stern looks, suspercilious manners, or confident assertions. The imperious browbeating and scorn of great men. L'Estrange.

The art or process of reducing gold to extremely thin leaves, by beating with a hammer. Ure.

With quick beating or palpitation; pitapat. Congreve.

The elevation of the hand, or that part of the bar at which it is raised, in beating time; the weak or unaccented part of the bar; - - opposed to thesis. Moore.

A sound beating with a stick or cudgel. Specifically: A form of punishment among the Turks, Chinese, and others, consisting in beating an offender on the soles of his feet.

A mode of catching birds at night, by holding a torch or other light, and beating the bush or perch where they roost. The birds, flying to the light, are caught with nets or otherwise.

A short bat for beating clothes in washing them; -- called also batler, batling staff, batting staff. Shak.

To wear or impair as if by beating or by hard usage. "Each battered jade." Pope.

The act of battering or beating.

The act of beating the woods, bushes, etc., for game.

The measuring of time by beating.

To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic] To still my beating mind. Shak .

Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use. "A broad and beaten way." Milton. "Beaten gold." Shak.

To mingle, or to bring to a uniformly soft consistence, by beating, rubbing, or straining, as in some culinary operations.

To dash out the brains of; to kill by beating out the brains. Hence, Fig.: To destroy; to put an end to; to defeat. There thou mayst brain him. Shak. It was the swift celerity of the death . . . That brained my purpose. Shak.

To adorn; to make fine or showy. [Obs.] Thou [a tailor whom Grunio was browbeating] hast braved meny men; brave not me; I'll neither be faced or braved. Shak.

To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water.

ip employed in the exchange of prisoners, or in carrying propositions to an enemy; a ship beating a flag of truce and privileged from capture.

train. To catch fire, to become inflamed or ignited. -- to catch it to get a scolding or beating; to suffer punishment. [Colloq.] -- To catch one's eye, to interrupt captiously while speaking. [Colloq.] "You catch me up so very short." Dickens. -- To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.