pulsate
/pʌlˈseɪt
/ /ˈpʌlseɪt /verb [no object]
1Expand and contract with strong regular movements: blood vessels throb and pulsate...
- When the ebb and flow of our heart diminishes, we feel separate from the vast world around us, a world in which everything breathes, pulsates, expands and contracts.
- Naturally you start to stroke the blob and it suddenly expands and pulsates like the exposed viscera of a panting puppy.
- Across one large wall, a purplish strand of smoke pulsated and contracted, cohering into a monstrous head.
1.1 (often as adjective pulsating) Produce a regular throbbing sensation or sound: dance the night away in one of the pulsating discos...
- Let the sun-downer do its work as the place throbs with pulsating music.
- I was about to make an attempt to get up, as it was 9: 53, and I actually wanted to try to make myself useful, despite the burning sensation pulsating through my body.
- It is here that the Latin spirit is set free and one can imagine the Flamenco-flavoured dance clubs of London pulsating with the sound of the Trio this summer.
Synonyms
palpitate, pulse, throb, vibrate, pump, undulate, surge, heave, rise and fall, ebb and flow;
beat, pound, thud, thump, hammer, drum, thrum, oscillate, reverberate;
tick, flutter, pitter-patter, go pit-a-pat, quiver
rare quop
1.2 (usually as adjective pulsating) Be very exciting: victory in a pulsating semi-final...
- The skill level wasn't too high but it was an exciting, pulsating and nerve tingling contest.
- There was also Art and Drama Workshops and of course a Sports Day while the last day the Local Fundrums group put in a brilliant pulsating performance which went down really well with everyone.
- From the age-old cupolas and minarets, vibrant markets to skyscraping buildings and pulsating nightlife, Cairo has it all.
Derivatives
pulsation
/ noun ...- Via this unbounded body, we encounter flows and vibrations and pulsations and undulations and strange sounds and indeterminable sights.
- In some cases the car driver can feel a pulsation or vibration in the brake pedal every time a car stops, though the brakes seem to work fine.
- Instead he's playing to the girl's movements, creating an intricate pulsation of beats and cycles, hypnotized by every twirl and gyration.
pulsator
- The agitator or pulsator is a propeller-like device, usually a concave disc fixed to the center, that creates the vertical-axis rotating action.
- It uses what are called ‘pulsators’ to generate a Direct Current electrical field via electrodes at the bottom of the canal, about 25 feet deep at that point.
- The pulsator controlled the suck and release of the cups.
pulsatory
- The pulsatory nature of the signal is shown by introducing a micropipette containing cAMP into a field of amebae ready to aggregate: it can act as an aggregation center only if it provides cAMP pulses of the correct frequency.
- A distinguishing feature of the secretory machinery is that insulin is secreted in a pulsatory manner with a period on the order of minutes.
Origin
Late 17th century (earlier (Middle English) as pulsation): from Latin pulsat- 'throbbed, pulsed', from the verb pulsare, frequentative of pellere 'to drive, beat'.