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Webster 1913 Edition

Pulse

Pulse

,
Noun.
[OE.
puls
, L.
puls
,
pultis
, a thick pap or pottage made of meal, pulse, etc. See
Poultice
, and cf.
Pousse
.]
Leguminous plants, or their seeds, as beans, pease, etc.
If all the world
Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse.
Milton.

Pulse

,
Noun.
[OE.
pous
, OF.
pous
, F.
pouls
, fr. L.
pulsus
(sc.
venarum
), the beating of the pulse, the pulse, from
pellere
,
pulsum
, to beat, strike; cf. Gr. [GREEK] to swing, shake, [GREEK] to shake. Cf.
Appeal
,
Compel
,
Impel
,
Push
.]
1.
(Physiol.)
The beating or throbbing of the heart or blood vessels, especially of the arteries.
☞ In an artery the pulse is due to the expansion and contraction of the elastic walls of the artery by the action of the heart upon the column of blood in the arterial system. On the commencement of the diastole of the ventricle, the semilunar valves are closed, and the aorta recoils by its elasticity so as to force part of its contents into the vessels farther onwards. These, in turn, as they already contain a certain quantity of blood, expand, recover by an elastic recoil, and transmit the movement with diminished intensity. Thus a series of movements, gradually diminishing in intensity, pass along the arterial system (see the Note under
Heart
). For the sake of convenience, the radial artery at the wrist is generally chosen to detect the precise character of the pulse. The pulse rate varies with age, position, sex, stature, physical and psychical influences, etc.
2.
Any measured or regular beat; any short, quick motion, regularly repeated, as of a medium in the transmission of light, sound, etc.; oscillation; vibration; pulsation; impulse; beat; movement.
The measured
pulse
of racing oars.
Tennyson.
When the ear receives any simple sound, it is struck by a single
pulse
of the air, which makes the eardrum and the other membranous parts vibrate according to the nature and species of the stroke.
Burke.
Pulse glass
,
an instrument consisting to a glass tube with terminal bulbs, and containing ether or alcohol, which the heat of the hand causes to boil; – so called from the pulsating motion of the liquid when thus warmed.
–
Pulse wave
(Physiol.)
,
the wave of increased pressure started by the ventricular systole, radiating from the semilunar valves over the arterial system, and gradually disappearing in the smaller branches.

the
pulse wave
travels over the arterial system at the rate of about 29.5 feet in a second.
H. N. Martin.
–
To feel one’s pulse
.
(a)
To ascertain, by the sense of feeling, the condition of the arterial pulse.
(b)
Hence, to sound one's opinion; to try to discover one's mind.

Pulse

,
Verb.
I.
To beat, as the arteries; to move in pulses or beats; to pulsate; to throb.
Ray.

Pulse

,
Verb.
T.
[See
Pulsate
,
Pulse
a beating.]
To drive by a pulsation; to cause to pulsate.
[R.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Pulse

PULSE

,
Noun.
puls. [L. pulsus, from pello, to drive.]
1.
In animals, the beating or throbbing of the heart and arteries;more particularly, the sudden dilatation of an artery, caused by the projectile force of the blood, which is perceptible to the touch. Hence we say, to feel the pulse. The pulse is frequent or rare, quick or slow, equal or unequal, regular or intermitting, hard or soft, strong or weak, &c. The pulses of an adult in health, are little more than one pulse to a second; in certain fevers, the number is increased to 90, 100, or even to 140 in a minute.
2.
The stroke with which a medium is affected by the motion of light, sound, &c.; oscillation; vibration.
Sir Isaac Newton demonstrates that the velocities of the pulses of an elastic fluid medium are in a ratio compounded of half the ratio of the elastic force directly, and half the ratio of the density inversely.
To feel one's pulse, metaphorically, to sound one's opinion; to try or to know one's mind.

PULSE

,
Verb.
I.
To beat, as the arteries. [Little used.]

PULSE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. pulso.] To drive, as the pulse. [Little used.]

PULSE

,
Noun.
[L. pulsus, beaten out, as seeds; Heb. a bean, to separate.] Leguminous plants or their seeds; the plants whose pericarp is a legume or pod, as beans, peas, &c.

Definition 2024

Pulse

Pulse

See also: pulse and pulsé

German

Noun

Pulse m

  1. plural of Puls

pulse

pulse

See also: Pulse and pulsé

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʌls/

Noun

pulse ‎(plural pulses)

  1. (physiology) A normally regular beat felt when arteries are depressed, caused by the pumping action of the heart.
  2. A beat or throb.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Tennyson
      the measured pulse of racing oars
    • (Can we date this quote?) Burke
      When the ear receives any simple sound, it is struck by a single pulse of the air, which makes the eardrum and the other membranous parts vibrate according to the nature and species of the stroke.
  3. (music) The beat or tactus of a piece of music.
  4. An autosoliton
  5. annual leguminous crop.
Related terms
Translations
See also

Verb

pulse ‎(third-person singular simple present pulses, present participle pulsing, simple past and past participle pulsed)

  1. To beat, to throb, to flash.
    In the dead of night, all was still but the pulsing light.
  2. To flow, particularly of blood.
    Hot blood pulses through my veins.
  3. To emit in discrete quantities.

Etymology 2

From Old French pouls, pols or directly from Latin puls ‎(“meal, porridge”), probably from Ancient Greek πόλτος ‎(póltos, “porridge”) from a Proto-Indo-European *pel ‎(“dust, flour”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʌls/

Noun

pulse ‎(plural pulses)

  1. Any annual legume yielding from 1 to 12 grains or seeds of variable size, shape and colour within a pod, and used as food for humans or animals.

References

  • pulse in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • pulse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0130493465.

Anagrams

Dutch

Verb

pulse

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of pulsen

Latin

Participle

pulse

  1. vocative masculine singular of pulsus

Portuguese

Verb

pulse

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of pulsar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of pulsar
  3. first-person singular imperative of pulsar
  4. third-person singular imperative of pulsar

Spanish

Verb

pulse

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of pulsar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of pulsar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of pulsar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of pulsar.

Etymology

From Latin pulsus ‎(“beat”), from pellere ‎(“to drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel ‎(“to drive, strike, thrust”).

For spelling, the -e (on -lse) is so the end is pronounced /ls/, rather than /lz/ as in pulls, and does not change the vowel (‘u’). Compare else, false, convulse.

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