heartbeat
n.-
1 physical pulsation (n.) B1 Intermediate Medicinethe sound or movement of your heart as it pumps blood.
a single pulsation of the heart; often used to refer to the rhythm or rate of cardiac activity.
ExampleThe doctor listened to the baby's heartbeat through the stethoscope.
ExampleThe athlete monitored her resting heartbeat every morning to ensure her training load was not leading to overtraining or fatigue.
- pulse
- throb
- palpitation
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2 vital center (n.) B2 Upper Intermediatethe most important part of something that keeps it alive or active.
the driving impulse or vital force of an organisation, place, or movement.
ExampleSmall businesses are the heartbeat of this town's economy.
ExampleThe bustling marketplace has remained the heartbeat of the city for centuries, surviving numerous political and social upheavals.
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3 an instant (n.) B2 Upper Intermediate Informala very short amount of time.
an extremely brief interval of time; almost exclusively used in the idiomatic phrase 'in a heartbeat'.
ExampleIf I had the money, I would move to Italy in a heartbeat.
ExampleShe would have accepted the job offer in a heartbeat had it not required her to relocate across the country away from her family.
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4 computing signal (n.) C1 Advanced Technical Computinga regular signal sent by a computer to show it is still working correctly.
a periodic signal generated by hardware or software to indicate normal operation or to synchronise components within a distributed system.
ExampleThe server sends a heartbeat every few seconds to let the network know it is online.
ExampleThe monitoring software triggered an alert when it failed to receive a heartbeat from the primary database for more than thirty seconds.
UsageUsually functions as a countable noun in technical documentation.
- keepalive
- signal
From heart + beat.