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

heartbeat \heartbeat\ n.
   the audible and palpable rhythmic contraction and expansion
   of the arteries with each beat of the heart; as, he listened
   to her heartbeat with a stethoscope.

   syn: pulse, pulsation, beat.
        wordnet 1.5

   in a heartbeat immediately.
      pjc
see also:
in a heartbeat 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

heartbeat
     n 1: the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with
          each beat of the heart; "he could feel the beat of her
          heart" syn: pulse, pulsation, beat
     2: a very short time as the time it takes the eye blink or the
        heart to beat; "if i had the chance i'd do it in a flash"
        syn: blink of an eye, flash, instant, jiffy, split
        second, trice, twinkling, wink, new york minute
     3: an animating or vital unifying force; "new york is the
        commercial heartbeat of america"
see also:
pulse pulsation beat blink of an eye flash instant 
jiffy split second trice twinkling wink 
new york minute 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

63 moby thesaurus words for "heartbeat":
   anima, animating force, arrhythmia, atman, bathmism, beat, beating,
   beating heart, biological clock, biorhythm, blood, breath,
   breath of life, divine breath, divine spark, drumming, elan vital,
   essence of life, flutter, force of life, growth force, heart,
   heartblood, heartthrob, impulse of life, inspiriting force, jiva,
   jivatma, life breath, life cycle, life essence, life force,
   life principle, life process, lifeblood, living force, palpitation,
   pitapat, pitter-patter, pneuma, prana, pulsation, pulse, rat-a-tat,
   rataplan, rhythm, seat of life, soul, spark of life, spirit,
   staccato, tempo, throb, throbbing, vis vitae, vis vitalis,
   vital energy, vital flame, vital fluid, vital force,
   vital principle, vital spark, vital spirit

[4] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

heartbeat n. 1. the signal emitted by a level 2 ethernet transceiver at
   the end of every packet to show that the collision-detection circuit is
   still connected. 2. a periodic synchronization signal used by software
   or hardware, such as a bus clock or a periodic interrupt. 3. the
   `natural' oscillation frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before
   frequency division down to the machine's clock rate. 4. a signal emitted
   at regular intervals by software to demonstrate that it is still alive.
   sometimes hardware is designed to reboot the machine if it stops hearing
   a heartbeat. see also breath-of-life packet.


see also:
breath-of-life packet 

[5] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

heartbeat
     
        1.  the signal emitted by a level 2 ethernet
        transceiver at the end of every packet to show that the
        collision-detection circuit is still connected.
     
        2. a periodic synchronisation signal used by software or
        hardware, such as a bus clock or a periodic interrupt.
     
        3. the "natural" oscillation frequency of a computer's clock
        crystal, before frequency division down to the machine's clock
        rate.
     
        4. a signal emitted at regular intervals by software to
        demonstrate that it is still alive.  sometimes hardware is
        designed to reboot the machine if it stops hearing a
        heartbeat.  see also breath-of-life packet, watchdog.
     
        jargon file
     
        1996-03-12
     
     
see also:
packet bus interrupt breath-of-life packet watchdog jargon file 

Heartbeat >> H Words
Heartbeat, definition of term: Heartbeat
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