pulse

See also pulsé

English

Etymology

From Latin pulsus (“beat”), from pellere (“to drive”).

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pʌls/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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.
2. (physiology) A normally regular beat felt when arteries are depressed, caused by the pumping action of the heart.
3. A beat or throb.
4. (music) The beat or tactus of a piece of music.

Related terms

• impulse
• repulse

Translations

regular beat caused by the heart

• Arabic: نبضة (ar) (nábDa) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 脈搏 (cmn), 脉搏 (cmn) (màibó), 脈 (cmn), 脉 (cmn) (mài)

• Czech: tep (cs) m, puls (cs) m
• Dutch: pols (nl) m
• Esperanto: pulso (eo)
• Finnish: pulssi (fi)
• French: pouls (fr) m
• German: Puls (de) m
• Greek: παλμός (el) (palmós) m , σφυγμός (el) (sfygmós) m 
• Hindi: नाड़ी (hi) (nāṛī)
• Hungarian: pulzus (hu)
• Icelandic: æðasláttur (is) m, púls (is) m

• Italian: polso (it) m, battito (it) m
• Japanese: 脈搏 (ja) (みゃくはく, myakuhaku), 脈 (ja) (みゃく, myaku)
• Jèrriais: pouls m
• Korean: 맥박 (ko) (maekbak) (脈搏)
• Malay: nadi (ms)
• Norwegian: puls (no)
• Persian: نبض (fa) (nabz)
• Portuguese: pulso (pt) m
• Russian: пульс (ru) (pul’s) m 
• Slovak: pulz (sk) m
• Spanish: pulso (es) m
• Swedish: puls (sv) c
• Urdu: ناڑي (ur) (nāṛī)
• Volapük: peb (vo)

beat, throb

• Catalan: pulsació
• Finnish: syke (fi)
• German: Puls (de) m
• Greek: παλμός (el) (palmós) m 

• Icelandic: sláttur (is) m
• Portuguese: pulso (pt) m
• Russian: импульс (ru) (ímpul’s) m 

in music

• German: Puls (de) m
• Greek: παλμός (el) (palmós) m 
• Icelandic: taktslag (is) n, púls (is) m

• Portuguese: pulso (pt) m
• Russian: ритм (ru) (ritm) m 

See also

• beat

(Physiology):

• arrhythmia
• blood pressure
• heartbeat

(Music):

• meter
• tempo

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

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

• Lepus
• pules

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Dutch

Verb

pulse

1. singular present subjunctive of pulsen

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Spanish

Verb

pulse (infinitive pulsar)

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.

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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