pulse
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pʌls/
ipa: /pʌls/
ipa: [pəls]
ipa: /pʊls/
ipa: /pʌls/
rhymes: -ʌls
rhymes: -ʊls
Forms: form: pulses
Etymology: From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pous, pouse (“regular beat of arteries, pulse; heartbeat; place on the body where a pulse is detectable; beat (of a musical instrument); energy, vitality”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman puls, pous, pus, and Middle French pouls, poulz, pous [and other forms], Old French pous, pulz (“regular beat of arteries; place on the body where a pulse is detectable”) (modern French pouls), and from their etymon Latin pulsus (“beat, impulse, pulse, stroke; regular beat of arteries or the heart”), from pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”)) + -sus (a variant of -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).
Senses: topics: medicine
physiology
sciences
glosses: A normally regular beat felt when arteries near the skin (for example, at the neck or wrist) are depressed, caused by the heart pumping blood through them.
examples: text: Her pulse was thready and weak.
text: [A] Pulſe which is ſlow and large denotes ſufficient remains of ſtrength, tenſion, and thickneſs of the fibres of the heart and arteries, and a viſcid and tenacious blood. All unequal Pulſes are very bad, ſince they denote that there is neither a due influx of the ſpirits, nor a proper and equal mixture of the blood; but particularly ſuch Pulſes always prognoſticate unlucky events, when they are weak.
ref: 1764, “№ XXVII. A Dissertation on the Pulse, and the Dijudication Drawn therefrom.”, in The Medical Museum: Or, A Repository of Cases, Experiments, Researches, and Discoveries Collected at Home and Abroad […], volume III, London: […] W. Richardson and S. Clark; and sold by W. Bristow, […], →OCLC, page 216:
text: [M]y experience is that men may enjoy better health, do more work, have clearer brains, a steadier pulse, and go on to old age better without alcohol than with.
ref: 1870 May 21, Thomas Cash, “United Kingdom Band of Hope Union. Annual Conference.”, in The Temperance Record. The Organ of the National Temperance League, number 738, London: William Tweedie, […], →OCLC, page 247, column 2:
topics: medicine
physiology
sciences
glosses: The nature or rate of this beat as an indication of a person's health.
examples: text: When the ear receives any ſimple ſound, it is ſtruck by a ſingle pulſe of the air, which makes the ear-drum and the other membranous parts vibrate according to the nature and ſpecies of the ſtroke.
ref: 1756 (date written), [Edmund Burke], “Sect. XI. The Artificial Infinite.”, in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1757, →OCLC, part IV, page 135:
text: I roved at random through the town, / [...] / And caught once more the distant shout, / The measured pulse of racing oars / Among the willows; [...]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LXXXV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 125:
glosses: A beat or throb; also, a repeated sequence of such beats or throbs.
examples: text: You can really feel the pulse of the city in this district.
glosses: The focus of energy or vigour of an activity, place, or thing; also, the feeling of bustle, busyness, or energy in a place; the heartbeat.
topics: biology
chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: An (increased) amount of a substance (such as a drug or an isotopic label) given over a short time.
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: A setting on a food processor which causes it to work in a series of short bursts rather than continuously, in order to break up ingredients without liquidizing them; also, a use of this setting.
topics: entertainment
human-sciences
lifestyle
linguistics
music
phonology
prosody
sciences
glosses: The beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse; also, a repeated sequence of such beats.
examples: text: A thin ruby crystal is illuminated by two successive intense short pulses of coherent light, t seconds apart, obtained from a ruby-laser source. As expected, the crystal will transmit the two pulses t seconds apart. But then one observes a curious additional feature: a third light pulse emerges spontaneously from the crystal about t seconds following the second pulse, and still relatively intense.
ref: 1969, “[Scientific Progress in F[iscal] Y[ear] 69: Electronics] The Photon Echo”, in Jacob Seiden, editor, OAR Progress for 1969 (OAR 69-0017; AD 699300), Arlington, Va.: Office of Aerospace Research, United States Air Force, →OCLC, page 71, column 1:
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A brief burst of electromagnetic energy, such as light, radio waves, etc.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Synonym of autosoliton (“a stable solitary localized structure that arises in nonlinear spatially extended dissipative systems due to mechanisms of self-organization”).
synonyms: word: autosoliton
extra: a stable solitary localized structure that arises in nonlinear spatially extended dissipative systems due to mechanisms of self-organization
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A brief increase in the strength of an electrical signal; an impulse.
topics: transport
glosses: A timed, coordinated connection, when multiple public transportation vehicles are at a hub at the same time so that passengers can flexibly connect between them.
Derived terms: word: aeropulse
word: afterpulse
word: anthropulse
word: apulse
word: a pussy and a pulse
word: attopulse
word: electromagnetic pulse
word: electropulse
word: finger on the pulse
word: have one's finger on the pulse
word: have one's fingers on the pulse
word: interpulse
word: intrapulse
word: macropulse
word: micropulse
word: monopulse
word: multipulse
word: nanopulse
word: nonpulse
word: nuclear magnetic pulse
word: nuclear-pulse rocket
word: overpulse
word: oxygen pulse
word: photopulse
word: postpulse
word: prepulse
word: pulsable
word: pulsebeat
word: pulsed
word: pulse decay time
word: pulse demodulator
word: pulse detonation engine
word: pulse diagnosis
word: pulse dialing
word: pulse dialling
word: pulseful
word: pulse glass
word: pulsejet
word: pulse jet
word: pulseless
word: pulselike
word: pulse-like
word: pulse modulation
word: pulse modulator
word: pulse ox
word: pulse oximeter
word: pulse oximetric
word: pulse oximetry
word: pulse-pounding
word: pulse pressure
word: pulse repetition time
word: pulsetrain
word: pulse wave
word: pulsewidth
word: pulsific
word: pulsimeter
word: pulsometer
word: quadripulse
word: subpulse
word: underpulse
word: wavepulse
Related terms: word: impulse
word: repulse
word: pulsion
word: pulsive
topics: physiology
medicine
sciences
word: arrhythmia
topics: physiology
medicine
sciences
word: blood pressure
topics: physiology
medicine
sciences
word: heartbeat
topics: music
entertainment
lifestyle
prosody
phonology
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: meter
topics: music
entertainment
lifestyle
prosody
phonology
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: tempo