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beep

[beep]
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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.
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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.
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Origin of beep

First recorded in 1925–30; imitative
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for beep

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • I have beep steamboating forty years, and I know a little something about it.

  • The scanner began to beep and Roger turned his attention to the screen.

    Sabotage in Space

    Carey Rockwell

  • Now Beryl should have beep upstairs marking the new linen and she should93 not be singing as though she owned the whole world.

    Red-Robin

    Jane Abbott

  • Adonis and all the other Sun lords were supposed to have beep born in a cave on 25th December.

    Archaic England

    Harold Bayley

  • When Ives gives you the beep, jump out, run around the bows and plant your back against the hull directly opposite the port.

    Breaking Point

    James E. Gunn

British Dictionary definitions for beep

beep

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
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Derived Formsbeeper, noun

Word Origin

C20: of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for beep

interj.

1927, imitative of automobile horns (originally of the sound of a certain type of automobile horn among several types in use in the years after the klaxon horn was brought into use c.1910). Used as a noun and verb by 1929. Related: Beeped; beeping.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper