Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEAT, n.

1. A stroke; a striking; a blow, whether with the hand, or with a weapon.
2. A pulsation; as the beat of the pulse.
3. The rise or fall of the hand or foot, in regulating the divisions of time in music.
4. A transient grace-note in music, struck immediately before the note it is intended to ornament. – Busby. In the military art, the beat of drum, is 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, &c. The beat of a watch or clock, is the stroke made by the fangs or pallets of the spindle of the balance, or of the pads in a royal pendulum. – Encyc.