Wiktionary

beat

See also: Beat, be at, béat, and béât

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd- (“to hit, strike”).

Compare Old Irish fo·botha (“he threatened”), Latin confutō (“to strike down”), fūstis (“stick, club”), Albanian bahe (“sling”), Lithuanian baudžiù, Old Armenian բութ (butʻ)).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beat (plural beats)

  1. A stroke; a blow.
  2. A pulsation or throb.
    a beat of the heart
    the beat of the pulse
  3. (music) A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.
  4. A rhythm.
    I love watching her dance to a pretty drum beat with a bouncy rhythm!
    1. (music) The rhythm signalled by a conductor or other musician to the members of a group of musicians.
  5. The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
  6. The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency
  7. (authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.
  8. (by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially
    1. The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
      to walk the beat
      • 1886, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 3, in A Study in Scarlet:
        There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss.
      • 2019 January 29, Mike Masnick, “How My High School Destroyed An Immigrant Kid's Life Because He Drew The School's Mascot”, in Techdirt‎[1]:
        […] the rise of embedding police into schools – so-called School Resource Officers (SROs), who are employed by the local police, but whose “beat” is a school. Those officers report to the local police department and not the school, and can, and frequently do, have different priorities.
    2. (journalism) The primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).
      Synonym: newsbeat
      • 2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophe[2]”, in National Geographic:
        As an adult, I became a journalist whose beat is the environment. In a way, I’ve turned my youthful preoccupations into a profession.
  9. (dated) An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
    • 1898, unknown author, Scribner's Magazine, volume 24:
      It's a beat on the whole country.
  10. (colloquial, dated) That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.
    the beat of him
  11. (dated or obsolete, Southern US) A precinct.
  12. (dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.
    1. (Australia) An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
  13. (archaic) A low cheat or swindler.
    a dead beat
  14. (hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
    • 1911, Hedley Peek, Frederick George Aflalo, Encyclopaedia of Sport:
      Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.
  15. (fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
  16. (slang) A makeup look; compare beat one's face.
    • 2018, Leah Prinzivalli, “Kylie Jenner Shared a Sneak Peek of Her New Kylie Cosmetics Blush on Instagram”, in Allure‎[3]:
      She made sure to give fans all the details about her beat in the caption.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Pennsylvania German: biede
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
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Verb

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beat (third-person singular simple present beats, present participle beating, simple past beat or (nonstandard) beated, past participle beaten or (colloquial) beat or (nonstandard) beated)

  1. (transitive) To hit; to strike.
    Synonyms: knock, pound, strike, hammer, whack; see also Thesaurus:attack, Thesaurus:hit
    As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled.
    • 1825?, “Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder”, in The Newgate Calendar: comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters, page 231:
      Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall […]
    • 1988, Emily Honig, Gail Hershatter, “Divorce”, in Personal Voices: Chinese Women in the 1980's‎[4], Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 219:
      The case of a woman named Qu Hua from Qiqihaer, Heilongjiang, illustrates this possibility. She married a worker named Xu Baocheng in 1980, and they got along very well until she gave birth to a girl. Then Xu immediately began to beat Qu, and forced her and the baby to live in a small shack.
    • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian‎[5]:
      In this account of events, the cards were stacked against Clemons from the beginning. His appeal lawyers have argued that he was physically beaten into making a confession, the jury was wrongfully selected and misdirected, and his conviction largely achieved on individual testimony with no supporting forensic evidence presented.
    • 2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 5:50 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN)‎[6], archived from the original on 17 October 2022:
      The attack also afforded Helena to a front-seat view of literal air-to-air melee combat, as one Wildcat pilot of the Cactus Air Force, who was swooping in to help break up the attack, found himself out of machine-gun ammo; instead, he dropped his landing gear, positioned himself above the nearest bomber, and begun beating it to death, in midair, using his landing gear as clubs. After a bit of evasive action that the fighter easily kept up with, the repeated slamming broke something important, and the bomber spiralled down into the sea.
  2. (transitive) To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.
    He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.
  3. (intransitive) To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
  4. (intransitive) To move with pulsation or throbbing.
  5. (transitive) To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than (someone); to excel in a particular, competitive event.
    Jan had little trouble beating John in tennis. He lost five games in a row.
    No matter how quickly Joe finished his test, Roger always beat him.
    I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
  6. (intransitive, nautical) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
  7. (transitive) To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
    • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 81:
      The part of the wood to be beaten for deer sloped all the way from the roadside to the loch.
  8. To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.
    Beat the eggs and whip the cream.
  9. (transitive, UK, in haggling for a price of a buyer) To persuade the seller to reduce a price.
    Synonym: negotiate
    He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.
  10. (transitive) To indicate by beating or drumming.
    to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters
  11. To tread, as a path.
    • 1712, Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem, book 1:
      While I this unexampled task essay, / Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way, / Celestial Dove! divine assistance bring, / Sustain me on thy strong-extended wing,
  12. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
    • 1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education:
      I know not why any one should waste his time, and beat his head about the Latin grammar, who does not intend to be a critick, or make speeches, and write dispatches in it.
  13. To be in agitation or doubt.
  14. To make a sound when struck.
    The drums beat.
  15. (military, intransitive) To make a succession of strokes on a drum.
    The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
  16. To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and lesser intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations not perfectly in unison.
  17. (transitive) To arrive at a place before someone.
    He beat me there.
    The place is empty; we beat the crowd of people who come at lunch.
  18. (intransitive, MLE, MTE, slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse.
    Synonyms: do it, get it on, have sex, shag; see also Thesaurus:copulate
    Bruv, she came in just as we started to beat.
    • 2017-02-08, “Big (Millie B reply)”‎[7]performed by Sophie Aspin:
      Millie B gets ten shags a week. New day, different guy, that's just peek. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat.
  19. (transitive, slang) To rob; to cheat or scam.
    He beat me out of 12 bucks last night.
    I already beat him, but he hasn't realized it yet.
    • 1900, Fame, quoting Retail Trade Advocate, page 472:
      When one of 'em runs up a bill here, then goes off and deals somewhere else, and dodges me every time he sees me, that's the man I'm after with a sharp stick. [...] Honest people often get into tight places, and we would rather help 'em than hurt 'em then. But some just try to beat you.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of beat
infinitive (to) beat
present tense past tense
1st-person singular beat beat
2nd-person singular beat, beatest† beat, beatest†
3rd-person singular beats, beateth† beat
plural beat
subjunctive beat beat
imperative beat —
participles beating beaten

† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Terms derived from beat (verb)
Translations
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nautical - to sail to windward
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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From Middle English bet (simple past of beten "to beat"), from Old English bēot (simple past of bēatan "to beat"). Middle English bet would regularly yield *beet; the modern form is influenced by the present stem and the past participle beaten. Pronunciations with /ɛ/ (from Middle English bette, alternative simple past of beten) are possibly analogous to read (/ɹɛd/), led, met, etc.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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beat

  1. simple past tense of beat
  2. (especially colloquial) past participle of beat

Adjective

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beat (comparative more beat, superlative most beat)

  2. (US slang) Exhausted.
    After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.
    • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 10, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2:
      I stayed in San Francisco a week and had the beatest time of my life. Marylou and I walked around for miles, looking for food-money.
  3. (slang) Dilapidated, beat up.
    Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys.
  4. (African-American Vernacular and gay slang) Having impressively attractive makeup.
    Her face was beat for the gods!
  5. (slang) Boring.
  6. (slang, of a person) Ugly.
Synonyms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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From beatnik, or beat generation.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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beat (plural beats)

  2. A beatnik.
    • 2008 March, David Wills, Beatdom, number 3:
      The beats were pioneers with no destination, changing the world one impulse at a time.

Adjective

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beat (comparative more beat, superlative most beat)

  1. Relating to the Beat Generation.
    beat poetry

References

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  • DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. →ISBN.

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin beātus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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beat (feminine beata, masculine plural beats, feminine plural beates)

  1. saint, beatified

Derived terms

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Noun

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beat m (plural beats, feminine beata)

  1. monk
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Further reading

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Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

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Borrowed from English beat.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beat m (plural beats, diminutive beatje n)

  1. a beat, a rhythmic pattern, notably in music
  2. (music) beat an early rock genre

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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Finnish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English beat.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beat

  1. (jazz, hiphop, EDM) beat

Declension

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Inflection of beat (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative beat beatit
genitive beatin beatien
partitive beatiä beatejä
illative beatiin beateihin
singular plural
nominative beat beatit
accusative nom. beat beatit
gen. beatin
genitive beatin beatien
partitive beatiä beatejä
inessive beatissä beateissä
elative beatistä beateistä
illative beatiin beateihin
adessive beatillä beateillä
ablative beatiltä beateiltä
allative beatille beateille
essive beatinä beateinä
translative beatiksi beateiksi
abessive beatittä beateittä
instructive — beatein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of beat (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative beatini beatini
accusative nom. beatini beatini
gen. beatini
genitive beatini beatieni
partitive beatiäni beatejäni
inessive beatissäni beateissäni
elative beatistäni beateistäni
illative beatiini beateihini
adessive beatilläni beateilläni
ablative beatiltäni beateiltäni
allative beatilleni beateilleni
essive beatinäni beateinäni
translative beatikseni beateikseni
abessive beatittäni beateittäni
instructive — —
comitative — beateineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative beatisi beatisi
accusative nom. beatisi beatisi
gen. beatisi
genitive beatisi beatiesi
partitive beatiäsi beatejäsi
inessive beatissäsi beateissäsi
elative beatistäsi beateistäsi
illative beatiisi beateihisi
adessive beatilläsi beateilläsi
ablative beatiltäsi beateiltäsi
allative beatillesi beateillesi
essive beatinäsi beateinäsi
translative beatiksesi beateiksesi
abessive beatittäsi beateittäsi
instructive — —
comitative — beateinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative beatimme beatimme
accusative nom. beatimme beatimme
gen. beatimme
genitive beatimme beatiemme
partitive beatiämme beatejämme
inessive beatissämme beateissämme
elative beatistämme beateistämme
illative beatiimme beateihimme
adessive beatillämme beateillämme
ablative beatiltämme beateiltämme
allative beatillemme beateillemme
essive beatinämme beateinämme
translative beatiksemme beateiksemme
abessive beatittämme beateittämme
instructive — —
comitative — beateinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative beatinne beatinne
accusative nom. beatinne beatinne
gen. beatinne
genitive beatinne beatienne
partitive beatiänne beatejänne
inessive beatissänne beateissänne
elative beatistänne beateistänne
illative beatiinne beateihinne
adessive beatillänne beateillänne
ablative beatiltänne beateiltänne
allative beatillenne beateillenne
essive beatinänne beateinänne
translative beatiksenne beateiksenne
abessive beatittänne beateittänne
instructive — —
comitative — beateinenne
third-person possessor
singular plural
nominative beatinsä beatinsä
accusative nom. beatinsä beatinsä
gen. beatinsä
genitive beatinsä beatiensä
partitive beatiään
beatiänsä 		beatejään
beatejänsä
inessive beatissään
beatissänsä 		beateissään
beateissänsä
elative beatistään
beatistänsä 		beateistään
beateistänsä
illative beatiinsä beateihinsä
adessive beatillään
beatillänsä 		beateillään
beateillänsä
ablative beatiltään
beatiltänsä 		beateiltään
beateiltänsä
allative beatilleen
beatillensä 		beateilleen
beateillensä
essive beatinään
beatinänsä 		beateinään
beateinänsä
translative beatikseen
beatiksensä 		beateikseen
beateiksensä
abessive beatittään
beatittänsä 		beateittään
beateittänsä
instructive — —
comitative — beateineen
beateinensä

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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compounds

Further reading

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Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English beat.

Adjective

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beat (invariable)

  1. beat (50s US literary and 70s UK music scenes)

Noun

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beat m (invariable)

  1. beat (rhythm accompanying music)

Anagrams

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Latin

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Verb

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beat

  1. third-person singular present active indicative of beō

Megleno-Romanian

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Etymology

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From a contracted Vulgar Latin form of Late Latin bibitus (“drunk”), from Latin bibō (“drink”).

Adjective

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beat

  1. drunk

Romanian

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Etymology 1

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From a contracted Vulgar Latin form (possibly *beb(e)tus) of Late Latin bibitus (“drunk”), from Latin bibō (“drink”). Compare Spanish beodo.

Doublet of băut ("beat" probably being of Transylvanian origin).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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beat m or n (feminine singular beată, masculine plural beți, feminine and neuter plural bete)

  1. drunk, drunken, intoxicated; tipsy
    Synonyms: îmbătat; băut; (very formal) în stare de ebrietate; (slang) matol; (slang) matolit; (slang) pilit; (slang) mangă; (slang) țeapăn; (slang) cherchelit
    Antonym: treaz
Declension
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Declension of beat
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite beat beată beți bete
definite beatul beata beții betele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite beat bete beți bete
definite beatului betei beților betelor
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from English beat.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beat n (plural beaturi)

  1. (music) beat
    Nu mint, doar că tu nu înțelegi ce vreau să transmit pe beat.
    I ain't lying, you just don't understand what I'm tryna convey on the beat.
Declension
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Declension of beat
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative beat beatul beaturi beaturile
genitive-dative beat beatului beaturi beaturilor
vocative beatule beaturilor
Synonyms
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Rukai

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Alternative forms

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Noun

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beat

  1. meat

Volapük

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Noun

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beat (nominative plural beats)

  1. happiness

Declension

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Declension of beat
singular plural
nominative beat beats
genitive beata beatas
dative beate beates
accusative beati beatis
vocative 1 o beat! o beats!
predicative 2 beatu beatus

1 status as a case is disputed
2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

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