Definition

1. Noun:

   • Edible seeds of leguminous plants: The edible seeds harvested from plants in the legume family, such as peas, beans, or lentils.
   • Heart rate: The number of times the heart beats per minute, often measured as a basic indicator of health.
   • Rhythmic arterial expansion: The regular throbbing felt in the arteries as blood is pumped by the heart.
   • A brief surge or transient wave: In electronics and physics, a single, sudden, and brief increase in a quantity, such as voltage or current.

2. Verb:

   • To move or drive with rhythmic beats: To move or operate with a strong, regular rhythm.
   • To produce or emit in pulses: To generate energy, signals, or waves in a series of short, intermittent bursts.
   • To expand and contract rhythmically: To beat or throb with a steady rhythm.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Lentils and chickpeas are common types of pulse used in cooking.
  • The doctor checked the patient's pulse to assess their heart rate.
  • She felt a strong pulse in her wrist.
  • The oscilloscope displayed an electrical pulse.

• Verb:

  • Music pulsed from the speakers, filling the room with energy.
  • The radar system pulses electromagnetic waves to detect objects.
  • The artery pulsed visibly after the intense exercise.

Advanced Usage

• "To take someone's pulse": To measure someone's heart rate, often by feeling their wrist or neck; figuratively, to gauge the general mood or opinion of a group.

  • The politician's speech was an attempt to take the pulse of the nation on the issue.

• "The pulse of something": The central or most active part of a place, activity, or trend; its vital rhythm or energy.

  • The market square is the pulse of the old city.

Variants and Related Words

• Pulsate (verb): To expand and contract rhythmically; to throb. (e.g., )
• Pulsation (noun): A single beat or throb. (e.g., )
• Impulse (noun): A sudden strong urge or desire; in physics, a force acting briefly on a body. (This is a related but distinct concept from a single electronic pulse.)

Synonyms

• Noun (heartbeat): Beat, throbbing, rhythm.
• Noun (seed): Legume.
• Verb: Throb, beat, vibrate.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases

• Pulse through: To move through something with a rhythmic or surging energy.
  • Excitement pulsed through the crowd as the band appeared.

Related Idioms

• To have one's finger on the pulse: To be fully aware of the latest developments, trends, or feelings.
  • A good manager has their finger on the pulse of their team's morale.

Noun

1. edible seeds of various pod-bearing plants (peas or beans or lentils etc.)
2. the rate at which the heart beats; usually measured to obtain a quick evaluation of a person's health
3. the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
   • he could feel the beat of her heart
4. (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)
   • the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star

Verb

1. drive by or as if by pulsation
   • A soft breeze pulsed the air
2. produce or modulate (as electromagnetic waves) in the form of short bursts or pulses or cause an apparatus to produce pulses
   • pulse waves
   • a transmitter pulsed by an electronic tube
3. expand and contract rhythmically; beat rhythmically
   • The baby's heart was pulsating again after the surgeon massaged it