beep

American  

[beep] / bip /

noun

1. a short, relatively high-pitched tone produced by a horn, electronic device, or the like as a signal, summons, or warning.

2. one of the periodic signals sounded by a beeper.

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verb (used without object)

1. to make or emit such a sound.

   When the timer beeps, take the cake out of the oven.

verb (used with object)

1. to sound (a horn, warning signal, etc.).

   impatient drivers beeping their horns.

2. to announce, warn, summon, etc., by beeping.

   The doctor was beeped to call the hospital.

beep British  

/ biːp /

noun

1. a short high-pitched sound, esp one made by the horn of a car, bicycle, etc, or by electronic apparatus

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verb

1. to make or cause to make such a noise

Other Word Forms

• beeper
  noun

Etymology

Origin of beep

First recorded in 1925–30; imitative

Explanation

A beep is a brief warning sound. You might give a quick beep on your car horn to let a bicyclist know you're passing her on the road. Your friend's voice mail might say, "Leave a message after the beep!" and your smoke alarm might emit an annoying series of beeps when its battery is dying. In either case, you'll hear a high-pitched, brief tone. The word is imitative — it sounds like what it means — and relatively new, only as old as the car horns it imitates. Beep was first an interjection in the 1920s, and a noun and a verb by the end of the decade.

Example Sentences

While hiking in a forest in the Mount Shasta area with a metal detector, browsing over rocks and dirt, his machine began to beep.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025

Voices echo through the vast, concrete space and a cacophony of drills and electric lifts beep, buzz and blare.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2025

The funkiest thing a “radioactive shrimp” would do—that is, if you put a radiation sensor over such a crustacean, says Pillai—is beep.

From Slate • Aug. 21, 2025

Despite our many requests, the Florida Department of Corrections has not gotten him a hearing aid that doesn’t beep loudly in his ears, so he prefers to stay in his own, soundless world.

From Salon • Aug. 17, 2025

Mom must have heard from Dad, because I heard her cell beep with an incoming text message.

From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen