pulse (often constructed Copy link Outline I. The beating, or recurring motion of the blood in the heart and arteries1. pulsus venārum2. expr. by vēnae alone3. ictus, ūs (sc. arteriarum), a stroke of the p.II. Any similar movement, as of sound, light, etc.III. Any leguminous esculent vegetable (generally constructed as plural) • pulse (often constructed as a plural noun): I. The beating, or recurring motion of the blood in the heart and arteries: also, a single stroke of the pulse (with pl. pulses): 1. pulsus venārum: Plin. 29, 1, 5. (N.B.--The ancients called the arteries venae; and they believed wind-pipes [arteriae] to be distributed through the whole body: [v. artery]: then, ascribing the pulsations of the true arteries to these "arteriae," they also called the pulse arteriarum pulsus: the pulse, which is most felt at the extremities of the limbs, arteriarum p. in cacumine maxume membrorum evidens [index fere morborum], Plin. 11, 37, 88: an even, quick, or slow p., art. pulsus per aetates stabilis aut citatus aut tardus, ib.) 2. expr. by vēnae alone: if the p. beats so, he has a fever, si v. sic moventur, is habet febrem, Cic. Fat. 8, 15: Cels. 3, 6: the p. has quite failed, protinus v. conciderunt, id. 3, 5: we trust the p. most, which is very misleading, venis maxime credimus, fallacissimae rei, id. 3, 6: the p. is natural, venae naturaliter sunt ordinatae, ib.: the p. is slower or quicker according to age, sex, and temperament, venae leniores celerioresve sunt et aetate et sexu et corporum natura, Cels. ib.: to quicken the p., venas concitare, resolvere, movere, turbare, ib.: to feel the p., venas tentare, Suet. Tib. 72, fin.; v. tangere, Pers. 3, 107; pulsum venarum attingere, Tac.; venarum pulsum et momenta captare, Apul. Fig.: to feel one's p. (= to sound one), *alicujus voluntatem, mentem, tentare; or, with acc. of person: cf. Tac. H. 1, 75: v. to sound. Phr.: the p. of life (Shaksp.), *pulsus vitales: the p. of states (Clarendon), *quasi venae quaedam civitatum: My temperate p. does regularly beat (Dryden), *pulsus venarum stabiles in corde moventur. 3. ictus, ūs (sc. arteriarum), a stroke of the p.: a quick or slow p., crebri aut languidi ictus [gubernacula vitae temperat], Plin. 11, 37, 88. II. Any similar movement, as of sound, light, etc.: the vibrations or p.s of this medium (said of light, Newton): pulsus, ictus, vibrātio (all by analogy): v. oscillation. III. Any leguminous esculent vegetable (generally constructed as plural): lĕgūmen, ĭnis, n., also pl.: let them give us p. to eat, dentur nobis l. ad vescendum, Vulg. Dan. i. 12: the earth abounds in fruits and various sorts of pulse, terra feta frugibus et vario leguminum genere, Cic. N. D. 2, 62. Also legumentum, Gell. 4, 11. Adj. leguminarius (Inscr. Orell. No. 3093): as subs. a pulse-seller (ὀσπριοπώλης), Gloss. Philox.