pulses

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pulse.

   The doctor compared the pulses in his arms and legs to assess his circulation.

   Farmers across the region grow pulses such as chickpeas and lentils.

   Note

   One spelling carries every countable use of the noun: beats felt at the wrist or neck, short doses of a drug or isotopic label, and bursts of a food processor's motor. In the kitchen the plural counts presses of the button (give the nuts a few short pulses). In the clinic it can mean beats taken at different sites, as when circulation is checked by comparing the pulses in the arms and legs.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of pulse.

   Blood pulses through the artery with each contraction of the heart.

   The neon sign pulses steadily above the entrance all night long.

   Note

   A verb that works two ways, and the object tells you which. Without one it means to throb or beat like an artery, with a literary lean: music pulses, a vein pulses at the temple. With an object it becomes a working verb for technicians and cooks. A lab pulses a cell culture with a drug, a laser pulses its beam, and a cook pulses the onions until they are chopped but not puréed.

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