Pulse

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pÊŒls/

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.

Full definition of pulse

Noun

1. (physiology) A normally regular beat felt when arteries are depressed, caused by the pumping action of the heart.
2. A beat or throb.
• unknown date Tennysonthe measured pulse of racing oars
• unknown date BurkeWhen 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.

Related terms

• impulse
• repulse

Verb

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pÊŒls/

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

Noun

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.

Anagrams

• Lepus
• pules