PULSE, noun puls. [Latin pulsus, from pello, to drive.]

1. In animals, the beating or throbbing of the heart and arteries; more particularly, the sudden dilatation of an artery, caused by the projectile force of the blood, which is perceptible to the touch. Hence we say, to feel the pulse The pulse is frequent or rare, quick or slow, equal or unequal, regular or intermitting, hard or soft, strong or weak, etc. The pulses of an adult in health, are little more than one pulse to a second; in certain fevers, the number is increased to 90, 100, or even to 140 in a minute.

2. The stroke with which a medium is affected by the motion of light, sound, etc.; oscillation; vibration.

Sir Isaac Newton demonstrates that the velocities of the pulses of an elastic fluid medium are in a ratio compounded of half the ratio of the elastic force directly, and half the ratio of the density inversely.

To feel one's pulse metaphorically, to sound one's opinion; to try or to know one's mind.

PULSE, verb intransitive To beat, as the arteries. [Little used.]

PULSE, verb transitive [Latin pulso.] To drive, as the pulse [Little used.]

PULSE, noun [Latin pulsus, beaten out, as seeds; Heb. a bean, to separate.] Leguminous plants or their seeds; the plants whose pericarp is a legume or pod, as beans, peas, etc.