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.
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2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of
the heart; the beat of the pulse.
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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) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
deadbeat
n 1: someone who fails to meet a financial obligation [syn:
{defaulter}, {deadbeat}]
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