pulse means 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; the qualitative nature of this beat. It carries an Arena rating of 1619, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pulse ranks #978 of 17,058 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,341 of 17,052 for Most Malleable Words, #1,753 of 17,052 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,075 of 17,058 for Most Vivid Words.
pulse is pronounced /pʌls/.
Why “pulse” is a great word
The regular, palpable throb of blood through the arteries, a wave of pressure that is the heart’s distant, rhythmic echo and a measure of vitality. From Late Middle English pulse, pous, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French pouls, pous, from Latin pulsus ("beat, impulse, stroke"), from pellō ("to drive, strike"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- ("to beat, drive, thrust"). Unlike "heartbeat," which is the muffled drum within the chest, or "rhythm," which is the abstract architecture of time, a pulse is the felt consequence, the traveling proof. It is the gentle tap against a doctor’s fingertips, the subterranean tremor in the wrist of a sleeping child, the steady green blink of a machine that says: still here, still here, still here—the one sure cadence in a life of unpredictable noise.
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)).
noun
- 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; the qualitative nature of this beat.e.g.“Her pulse was thready and weak.”
- The rate of this beat as an indication of a person's health.e.g.“Her pulse was 110 at 8 a.m.”
- A beat or throb; also, a repeated sequence of such beats or throbs.
- 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.e.g.“You can really feel the pulse of the city in this district.”
- An (increased) amount of a substance (such as a drug or an isotopic label) given over a short time.
- 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.
- The beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse; also, a repeated sequence of such beats.
- A brief burst of electromagnetic energy, such as light, radio waves, etc.
- Synonym of autosoliton (“a stable solitary localized structure that arises in nonlinear spatially extended dissipative systems due to mechanisms of self-organization”).
- A brief increase in the strength of an electrical signal; an impulse.
- 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.
- Annual leguminous plants (such as beans, lentils, and peas) yielding grains or seeds used as food for humans or animals; (countable) such a plant; a legume.
- Edible grains or seeds from leguminous plants, especially in a mature, dry condition; (countable) a specific kind of such a grain or seed.
verb
- To emit or impel (something) in pulses or waves.e.g.“Though a light of love she swimmeth, / Zoned with utterless desire, / And the air of her swift coming / Through thy hot veins pulseth fire.”
- 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.
- To operate a food processor on (some ingredient) in short bursts, to break it up without liquidizing it.
- To apply an electric current or signal that varies in strength to (something).
- To manipulate (an electric current, electromagnetic wave, etc.) so that it is emitted in pulses.
- 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.e.g.“Hot blood pulsed through my veins as I grew angrier.”
- Of an activity, place, or thing: to bustle with energy and liveliness; to pulsate.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- codware 71% match — Pulses (edible grains or seeds from leguminous plants). vs pulse →
- dal 63% match — Any of many dried husked pulses (legume), including peas, beans and lentils. vs pulse →
- bean 59% match — Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods. vs pulse →
- pultenaea 58% match — Any of the genus Pultenaea of Australian flowering plants; the bush peas. vs pulse →
- leguminous 57% match — Of the Leguminosae family of peas, beans etc. vs pulse →
- legumin 56% match — Any of a group of globulins, resembling casein, found mostly in legumes and grains. vs pulse →
- lablab 56% match — Any of the twining leguminous plants related to the bean, especially the hyacinth bean. vs pulse →
- cowpea 55% match — Any of the plants in the species Vigna unguiculata, including the black-eyed pea. vs pulse →