English

Verb

skip a beat ‎(third-person singular simple present skips a beat, present participle skipping a beat, simple past and past participle skipped a beat)

1. (literally) To miss a beat.
2. (by extension, when of a heart) To experience a strong emotion.
   • 1997, David J. Pelzer, The lost boy: a foster child's search for the love of a family:

     My heart seemed to skip a beat when I parked my car at the old Safeway supermarket. My eyes gaped at the same aisles I had strolled through as a child.

   • 1989, Lois Lowry, Number the stars:

     Her heart seemed to skip a beat. "Halte!" the soldier ordered in a stern voice.

   • 2001, Linda Bremner, love in the mail:

     What set it apart and caused my heart to skip a beat were the words printed where the artist's signature usually goes, […]

3. (by extension, idiomatic) To momentarily falter.
   • 2005, Amitav Ghosh, The hungry tide:

     THE MEGHA HAD BEEN on the water for some three hours when Piya heard the engine skip a beat.

   • 2008, Alan Howard Levy, Floyd Patterson: a boxer and a gentleman:

     Indeed, he did not skip a beat, stayed right with his training regimen, and flew out to Seattle on August 8.