pulse

noun

1. 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.

   “Her pulse was thready and weak.”

2. (broadly, metonymically)The rate of this beat as an indication of a person's health.

   “Her pulse was 110 at 8 a.m.”

   “[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.”

   “[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.”

3. (figuratively)A beat or throb; also, a repeated sequence of such beats or throbs.

   “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.”

   “I roved at random through the town, / [...] / And caught once more the distant shout, / The measured pulse of racing oars / Among the willows; [...]”

4. (figuratively)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.

   “You can really feel the pulse of the city in this district.”

5. An (increased) amount of a substance (such as a drug or an isotopic label) given over a short time.
6. (attributive)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.
7. The beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse; also, a repeated sequence of such beats.
8. A brief burst of electromagnetic energy, such as light, radio waves, etc.

   “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.”

9. Synonym of autosoliton (“a stable solitary localized structure that arises in nonlinear spatially extended dissipative systems due to mechanisms of self-organization”).
10. (also)A brief increase in the strength of an electrical signal; an impulse.
11. 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.
12. (uncountable)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.

    “Wild nuts, peas, vetch, a legume which had edible seed pods, and grasses were often combined with pulses like beans or lentils, the most commonly identified ingredient, and at times, wild mustard. To make the plants more palatable, pulses, which have a naturally bitter taste, were soaked, coarsely ground or pounded with stones to remove their husk.”

13. (uncountable)Edible grains or seeds from leguminous plants, especially in a mature, dry condition; (countable) a specific kind of such a grain or seed.

verb

1. (also, figuratively, transitive)To emit or impel (something) in pulses or waves.

   “Though a light of love she swimmeth, / Zoned with utterless desire, / And the air of her swift coming / Through thy hot veins pulseth fire.”

   “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.”

2. (transitive)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.
3. (transitive)To operate a food processor on (some ingredient) in short bursts, to break it up without liquidizing it.
4. (transitive)To apply an electric current or signal that varies in strength to (something).
5. (transitive)To manipulate (an electric current, electromagnetic wave, etc.) so that it is emitted in pulses.
6. (figuratively, intransitive, literary)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.

   “Hot blood pulsed through my veins as I grew angrier.”

   “The streets were dark, and all that could be seen was light pulsing from the disco.”

   “As pulseth in thy northern skies / Th' Aurora—so, in ecstasies, / Through starry maze, my spirit flies; [...]”

   “None dare awake the deep affright / That pulseth in the heart of night, [...]”

   “Come, descend to lower station! / We are of the same creation, / And the life that all sustains / Pulseth in our purple veins: [...]”

7. (figuratively, intransitive)Of an activity, place, or thing: to bustle with energy and liveliness; to pulsate.

   “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.”

   “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.”