Pulse Meaning

/pʌls/
B1

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA 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.

nounThe rate of this beat as an indication of a person's health.

You have a regular pulse.
The doctor felt his pulse.
The doctor thought the patient's pulse was rather rapid.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The athlete measured his ____ after the race by counting the beats per minute.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The nurse checked the patient's ____ and found it was slightly elevated after the exertion.

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)).

"[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." — 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:
"[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." — 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:
"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." — 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:
"I roved at random through the town, / [...] / And caught once more the distant shout, / The measured pulse of racing oars / Among the willows; [...]" — 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LXXXV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 125:
"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." — 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:

Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
The athlete measured his ____ after the race by counting the beats per minute.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The nurse checked the patient's ____ and found it was slightly elevated after the exertion.

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