pulse
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /pʌls/
ipa: /pʌls/
ipa: [pəls]
ipa: /pʊls/
ipa: /pʌls/
rhymes: -ʌls
rhymes: -ʊls
Forms: form: pulses
form: pulsing
form: pulsed
form: pulsed
Etymology: From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pulsen (“to pulse, throb”), from Latin pulsāre, the present active infinitive of pulsō (“to push; to beat, batter, hammer, strike; to knock on; to pulsate; (figuratively) to drive or urge on, impel; to move; to agitate, disquiet, disturb”), the frequentative of pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”); see further at etymology 1. Doublet of push.
Senses: examples: text: Though a light of love she swimmeth, / Zoned with utterless desire, / And the air of her swift coming / Through thy hot veins pulseth fire.
ref: 1850, W[illiam] C[ox] Bennett, “The Shadow-hunted”, in Poems, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 139:
text: Rapidly rotating dead stars, pulsars are so named because as they spin, they release beams of electromagnetic radiation across space that appear to pulse like celestial lighthouses.
ref: 2023 August 30, Ashley Strickland, “Astronomers solve the puzzle of an unusual pulsing dead star”, in CNN:
glosses: To emit or impel (something) in pulses or waves.
topics: biology
chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To give to (something, especially a cell culture) an (increased) amount of a substance, such as a drug or an isotopic label, over a short time.
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: To operate a food processor on (some ingredient) in short bursts, to break it up without liquidizing it.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To apply an electric current or signal that varies in strength to (something).
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To manipulate (an electric current, electromagnetic wave, etc.) so that it is emitted in pulses.
examples: text: Hot blood pulsed through my veins as I grew angrier.
text: The streets were dark, and all that could be seen was light pulsing from the disco.
text: As pulseth in thy northern skies / Th' Aurora—so, in ecstasies, / Through starry maze, my spirit flies; [...]
ref: 1849, A[ndrew] J[ames] Symington, “To Mademoiselle Jenny Lind”, in Harebell Chimes: Or Summer Memories and Musings, London: Houlston and Stoneman; Edinburgh: W[illia]m Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 139:
text: None dare awake the deep affright / That pulseth in the heart of night, [...]
ref: 1864, James Thomson, “Vane’s Story”, in Vane’s Story, Weddah and Om-El-Bonain, and Other Poems, London: Reeves and Turner, […], published 1881, →OCLC, the story, page 54:
text: Come, descend to lower station! / We are of the same creation, / And the life that all sustains / Pulseth in our purple veins: [...]
ref: 1867, Arthur H[enry] W[innington] Ingram, “To a Squirrel”, in The Doom of the Gods of Hellas, and Other Poems, London: A. W. Bennett, […], →OCLC, page 57:
text: O Heart Divine, that pulsest through all space, / Why dost Thou seem so far away and cold? / We miss the pressure of the arms that fold; / We long to hear Thy voice, to see Thy face. [From the New Orleans Times-Democrat.]
ref: 1887 February 3, F. V., “O Heart Divine!”, in Lyman Abbott, Hamilton W[right] Mabie, editors, The Christian Union, volume 35, number 5, New York, N.Y.: The Christian Union Company, →OCLC, page 31, column 2:
synonyms: undulate
glosses: To expand and contract repeatedly, like an artery when blood is flowing though it, or the heart; to beat, to throb, to vibrate, to pulsate.
examples: text: There is a dangerous censoriousness pulsing through American society. In small towns and big cities alike, would-be commissars are fighting, in the name of a distinct minority of Americans, to stifle open discussion and impose their views on the community at large. Dissenters, when they speak out, are hounded, ostracized and sometimes even forced from their jobs.
ref: 2022 February 18, Jamelle Bouie, “Opinion: You Just Can’t Tell the Truth About America Anymore”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 May 2023:
text: The emotion had pulsed from the outset, the Ukraine players emerging from the tunnel with blue and yellow flags around their shoulders; the rendition of their anthem seeing eyes well up.
ref: 2023 March 26, David Hytner, “Kane and Bukayo Saka combine against Ukraine for England’s perfect Euros start”, in The Guardian:
glosses: Of an activity, place, or thing: to bustle with energy and liveliness; to pulsate.
Derived terms: word: pulsed
word: pulser
word: pulsing
Related terms: word: pulsate
word: pulsating
word: pulsation
word: pulsative
word: pulsator
word: pulsatory
word: pulser