# pulse

Pronunciation: say "PULS" /pʌls/

## Noun

1. A regular beat felt where arteries lie close to the skin, such as the wrist or neck, caused by the heart pumping blood through them.
   - Simple: The steady beat you can feel in your wrist or neck as your heart pushes blood around.
   - _The paramedic pressed two fingers to the patient's neck to find a pulse._
   - _Doctors locate the pulse at the wrist to count beats per minute._
2. The nature or rate of the heartbeat, considered as an indication of a person's health.
   - Simple: How fast or strong the heartbeat is, used as a sign of a person's health.
   - _Her pulse was steady, which reassured the medics._
   - _A rapid pulse can indicate stress, illness, or dehydration._
3. The center of energy or vigor of an activity, place, or thing; the feeling of bustle and busyness in a place.
   - Simple: The lively energy or busy feeling of a place or activity.
   - _Reporters keep their finger on the pulse of public opinion._
   - _The trading floor was the pulse of the whole financial district._
4. A single beat or throb, or a series of them repeated one after another.
   - Simple: A steady beat or throb, or a row of beats that keep repeating.
   - _Each pulse of the engine shook the small boat._
   - _Pain came in a steady pulse behind her eyes all afternoon._
5. The underlying beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse, or a steadily repeated series of beats.
   - Simple: The steady beat of a piece of music or poem that you can tap along to.
   - _Dancers move in time with the music's pulse._
   - _A waltz has a clear three-beat pulse._
7. In physics, a short-lived emission of electromagnetic energy, such as a flash of light or a burst of radio waves.
   - Simple: A short burst of energy such as light or radio waves.
   - _The transmitter emits a pulse every few milliseconds._
   - _Radar systems detect objects by timing the reflected pulses._
8. In electronics, a momentary surge in the strength of an electrical signal before it falls back.
   - Simple: A short, sudden rise in an electrical signal.
   - _The circuit converts each button press into a single electrical pulse._
   - _Digital clocks step forward on every pulse from the oscillator._
9. Annual leguminous plants such as beans, lentils, and peas, grown for grains or seeds used as food for people or animals; a single legume plant.
   - Simple: Bean, pea, or lentil plants grown for their seeds, which people and animals eat as food.
   - _Rotating pulse with cereals helps restore nitrogen to the soil._
   - _Lentils and chickpeas are among the most widely grown pulses._
10. Edible grains or seeds from leguminous plants, especially when mature and dry; a particular kind of legume seed.
   - Simple: The dried seeds of beans, peas, or lentils used as food.
   - _Many vegetarian dishes rely on pulse for their protein._
   - _The recipe calls for a cup of cooked pulses._
13. A food processor setting that runs the machine in short bursts rather than continuously, breaking up ingredients without turning them to liquid.
   - Simple: A button that makes a food processor run in short bursts instead of running all the time.
   - _A couple of pulses broke the nuts into small pieces without making nut butter._
   - _The recipe says to give the mixture one quick pulse before adding the flour._
15. A raised amount of a substance, such as a drug or isotopic label, delivered over a short period.
   - Simple: A large amount of a drug or other substance given quickly over a short time.
   - _Researchers delivered a pulse of the labeled compound to track its uptake._
   - _A single pulse of the steroid reduced the swelling within hours._
18. A timed connection where several public transit vehicles gather at a hub at the same time, letting passengers transfer freely between them.
   - Simple: A planned moment when several buses or trains meet at one stop so riders can easily change between them.
   - _The afternoon pulse brings four bus lines together at the central station._
   - _Planners built the schedule around a pulse every thirty minutes._
20. Another term for an autosoliton: a stable, localized structure that self-organizes in nonlinear, spatially extended systems that dissipate energy.
   - Simple: A stable, single wave-like form that holds its shape on its own in some physical systems.
   - _A solitary pulse formed spontaneously in the gas-discharge system and stayed stable for minutes._
   - _Localized pulses in the plasma organize themselves and persist far from equilibrium._

## Verb

6. To expand and contract repeatedly, as an artery does when blood flows through it; to beat, throb, vibrate, or pulsate. *(literary)*
   - Simple: To beat or throb over and over, like a heart pumping blood.
   - _Light pulsed softly behind the frosted glass._
   - _She could feel her temples pulse with each heartbeat._
11. To bustle with energy and liveliness, seeming to throb or pulsate with activity.
   - Simple: To be lively and full of energy and movement.
   - _Downtown streets pulse with life every weekend._
   - _The festival grounds were pulsing with music and movement._
12. To emit or drive something out in pulses or waves.
   - Simple: To send something out in waves or bursts.
   - _Stadium speakers pulse waves of sound across the crowd._
   - _The beacon pulsed flashes of light into the night sky._
14. To process an ingredient in a food processor using short bursts, breaking it up without reducing it to liquid.
   - Simple: To run a food processor in short bursts on food to chop it without turning it to liquid.
   - _Pulse the breadcrumbs until they are coarse but not powdery._
   - _He pulsed the cooked beans into a rough paste for the dip._
16. To apply to something an electric current or signal that varies in strength.
   - Simple: To send a changing electric current or signal into something.
   - _Engineers pulse the coil to generate a fluctuating magnetic field._
   - _The system pulsed the electrodes during the test._
17. To control an electric current or electromagnetic wave so that it is emitted in pulses rather than continuously.
   - Simple: To control an electric current or wave so it comes out in short bursts.
   - _Modern transmitters pulse the radio wave to encode data._
   - _They pulsed the laser to deliver energy in controlled bursts._
19. To give something, especially a cell culture, a brief, elevated dose of a substance such as a drug or isotopic label.
   - Simple: To give a cell culture or other thing a quick, large dose of a substance over a short time.
   - _Scientists pulse the cells with a radioactive label to follow new protein synthesis._
   - _The team pulsed the bacteria with the antibiotic before washing it away._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–8, 13, 15, 18, 20** — This sense came into Middle English through Anglo-Norman and Old French pous, from Latin pulsus ("beat, impulse, stroke; the regular beat of arteries or the heart"). That derives from pellō ("to drive, push, strike"), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *pel- ("to beat, strike, drive").
**Meanings 6, 11–12, 14, 16–17, 19** — The verb came from Middle English pulsen ("to pulse, throb"), from Latin pulsāre ("to push, beat, strike, pulsate"), a frequentative form of pellō ("to drive, push, strike"). It is a doublet of push.
**Meanings 9–10** — This sense came from Middle English puls ("seeds of a leguminous plant used as food"), possibly through Anglo-Norman and Old French pous ("gruel, porridge"), or directly from their source, Latin puls ("meal; porridge"). That probably derives from Ancient Greek πόλτος (póltos, "porridge made from flour"), from a Proto-Indo-European root *pel- ("dust; flour").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pulse (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).