heartbeat
/ˈhɑːtbiːt
/noun
1The pulsation of the heart: his heartbeat quickened as Rose approached...
- His heartbeat quickened as he hurried towards her room.
- As he walked up to her she felt her heartbeat quicken.
- Looking across the dark waters that separate our houses, I can't help but feel my heartbeat quicken and the resolve in my mind harden.
1.1A single pulsation of the heart: her heartbeats steadied...
- Oh, of course she knew, she could feel them, smell them, hear those steady heartbeats and rushing blood, practically tasting the crimson on her tongue.
- Suddenly, the man drew in a sharp gasp and the heart monitor erupted into a flurry of sound, beeping off the steady, but rapid heartbeats.
- The words made Shipper's cheeks turn pink and he felt his heartbeats quicken again.
1.2An animating or vital unifying force: Ontario has long been the commercial heartbeat of Canada...
- He may not garner the headlines that some of his teammates accrue, but Lambert is the heartbeat of the robust team which has been transformed into treble winners under O'Neill.
- Flintoff, as Selvey correctly deduces, has become the heartbeat of the team; the carthorse that also provides the gallops.
- For twelve years Keane has been the heartbeat of the United team.
Phrases
a heartbeat (away) from
in a heartbeat
- qualified majority
- qualifier
- qualify
- qualifyingly
- qualimeter
- qualisign
- Qualitaetswein
- qualitative
- qualitative analysis
- qualitatively
- quality
- quality assurance
- quality binding
- quality circle
- quality control
- quality controller
- quality factor
- quality management
- quality management system
- quality newspaper
- quality of life
- quality paper
- quality time
- Qualitätswein
- qualm