deadbeat

deadbeat
Beat Beat, n. 1. A stroke; a blow. [1913 Webster]

He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse. [1913 Webster]

3. (Mus.) (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament. [1913 Webster]

4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or re["e]nforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See {Beat}, v. i., 8. [1913 Webster]

5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat. [1913 Webster +PJC]

6. A place of habitual or frequent resort. [1913 Webster]

7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, {deadbeat}. [Low] [1913 Webster]

{Beat of drum} (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc.

{Beat of a watch}, or {Beat of a clock}, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • deadbeat — dead‧beat [ˈdedbiːt] noun [countable] informal someone who does not pay their debts: • The government ought to think about how to get the money from the deadbeats before raising taxes on those who do pay. * * * deadbeat UK US /ˈdedbiːt/ noun [C]… …   Financial and business terms

  • Deadbeat — Dead beat , a. (Physics) Making a beat without recoil; giving indications by a single beat or excursion; said of galvanometers and other instruments in which the needle or index moves to the extent of its deflection and stops with little or no… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • deadbeat — [ded′bēt΄] adj. 1. making a beat without recoil [a deadbeat clock escapement] 2. not oscillating: said of an indicator on a meter, etc. ☆ 3. Informal designating a parent who fails to make court ordered payments for the support of a child n. ☆… …   English World dictionary

  • Deadbeat — est le pseudonyme de Scott Monteith, un musicien canadien reconnu internationalement. Originaire de Kitchener en Ontario, il se spécialise dans la musique électronique, l ambient et le dub. Il aussi membre d un duo nommé Crakhaus avec Stephen… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • deadbeat — (n.) worthless sponging idler, 1877, American English slang, from dead (adj.) + beat; earlier used colloquially to mean completely beaten (1821) …   Etymology dictionary

  • deadbeat — [n] freeloader bum, debtor, leech, loafer, moocher, parasite, sponge; concepts 412,423 …   New thesaurus

  • deadbeat — ► ADJECTIVE (dead beat) informal ▪ completely exhausted. ► NOUN informal 1) an idle or feckless person. 2) N. Amer. a person who tries to evade paying debts …   English terms dictionary

  • Deadbeat — The term deadbeat may refer to: Deadbeat, the stage name of American lo fi folk musician Jessica Risker Deadbeats, the; the stage name of a hip hop group in Hawaii Deadbeat, the stage name of Canadian electronica musician Scott Montieth Deadbeat… …   Wikipedia

  • Deadbeat — 1. person down on their luck; jobless and homeless person; 2. shabby and grungy as a deadbeat; down and out; 3. tired; 4. not offering good future prospects; going nowhere: a deadbeat job …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • deadbeat — Australian Slang 1. person down on their luck; jobless and homeless person; 2. shabby and grungy as a deadbeat; down and out; 3. tired; 4. not offering good future prospects; going nowhere: a deadbeat job …   English dialects glossary

  • deadbeat — UK [ˈdedˌbiːt] / US [ˈdedˌbɪt] noun [countable] Word forms deadbeat : singular deadbeat plural deadbeats informal 1) someone who is lazy and does not want to achieve anything in life 2) American someone who tries to avoid paying money that they… …   English dictionary

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