Deadbeat

4 definitions found

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

  dead beat \dead` beat"\ (d[e^]d`b[=e]t"), deadbeat
  \dead"beat`\(d[e^]d"b[=e]t`).
     a loafer, sponger, or swindler; especially, one who does not
     pay his debts. Same as {Beat}, n., 7. [Low, U.S.]
     [1913 Webster]



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

  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]

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

  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["e]nforcement
        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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  deadbeat
       n : someone who fails to meet a financial obligation [syn: {defaulter}]