The laws which regulate the successions of the
seasons. --Macaulay.
The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own
disputes, and regulated their own police.
--Bancroft.
2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state
of a nation or its finances.
3. To adjust, or maintain, with respect to a desired rate,
degree, or condition; as, to regulate the temperature of a
room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.
{To regulate a watch} or {clock}, to adjust its rate of
running so that it will keep approximately standard time.
Syn: To adjust; dispose; methodize; arrange; direct; order;
rule; govern.
He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute
creation at a heat. --Dryden.
2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of
the heart; the beat of the pulse.
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.
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.
5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a
watchman's beat.
6. A place of habitual or frequent resort.
7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often
emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat. [Low]
{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 {clock}, the stroke or sound made by
the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of
beat, according as the strokes is at equal or unequal
intervals.
2. A watch, esp. one that strikes. [Obs.] --Walton.
3. The striking of a clock. [Obs.] --Dryden.
4. A figure or figured work on the ankle or side of a
stocking. --Swift.
Note: The phrases what o'clock? it is nine o'clock, etc., are
contracted from what of the clock? it is nine of the
clock, etc.
{Alarm clock}. See under {Alarm}.
{Astronomical clock}.
(a) A clock of superior construction, with a compensating
pendulum, etc., to measure time with great accuracy,
for use in astronomical observatories; -- called a
regulator when used by watchmakers as a standard for
regulating timepieces.
(b) A clock with mechanism for indicating certain
astronomical phenomena, as the phases of the moon,
position of the sun in the ecliptic, equation of time,
etc.
{Electric clock}.
(a) A clock moved or regulated by electricity or
electro-magnetism.
(b) A clock connected with an electro-magnetic recording
apparatus.
{Ship's clock} (Naut.), a clock arranged to strike from one
to eight strokes, at half hourly intervals, marking the
divisions of the ship's watches.
{Sidereal clock}, an astronomical clock regulated to keep
sidereal time.