Adjacent Words

heartbeat definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart; "he could feel the beat of her heart" [syn: pulse, pulsation, heartbeat, beat]
2: a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash" [syn: blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, New York minute]
3: an animating or vital unifying force; "New York is the commercial heartbeat of America"

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1850 1. one complete pulsation of the heart 2. the vital center or driving impulse 3. a brief space of time ; flash — used chiefly in the phrase in a heartbeat

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a pulsation of the heart.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Your heartbeat is the regular movement of your heart as it pumps blood around your body. N-SING: oft poss N

Moby Thesaurus

anima, animating force, arrhythmia, atman, bathmism, beat, beating, beating heart, biological clock, biorhythm, blood, breath, breath of life, divine breath, divine spark, drumming, elan vital, essence of life, flutter, force of life, growth force, heart, heartblood, heartthrob, impulse of life, inspiriting force, jiva, jivatma, life breath, life cycle, life essence, life force, life principle, life process, lifeblood, living force, palpitation, pitapat, pitter-patter, pneuma, prana, pulsation, pulse, rat-a-tat, rataplan, rhythm, seat of life, soul, spark of life, spirit, staccato, tempo, throb, throbbing, vis vitae, vis vitalis, vital energy, vital flame, vital fluid, vital force, vital principle, vital spark, vital spirit