Noun heartbeat has 3 senses
- pulse, pulsation, heartbeat, beat - the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart; "he could feel the beat of her heart"
--1 is a kind of periodic event, recurrent event
--1 has particulars: diastole; systole; throb, throbbing, pounding
- blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, New York minute - 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"
--2 is a kind of moment, minute, second, bit
- heartbeat - an animating or vital unifying force; "New York is the commercial heartbeat of America"
--3 is a kind of force
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