[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

dead beat \dead` beat"\ de^d`b=et", deadbeat
\dead"beat`\de^d"b=et`.
   a loafer, sponger, or swindler; especially, one who does not
   pay his debts. same as beat, n., 7. low, u.s.
   1913 webster
see also:
beat 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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 further
   oscillation.
   1913 webster

   deadbeat escapement. see under escapement.
      1913 webster
see also:
deadbeat escapement escapement 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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"enforcement
      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
see also:
beat deadbeat beat of drum beat of a watch beat of a clock 

[4] : WordNet (r) 2.0

deadbeat
     n : someone who fails to meet a financial obligation syn: defaulter
see also:
defaulter 

Deadbeat >> D Words
Deadbeat, definition of term: Deadbeat
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