beep
[beep]
- a short, relatively high-pitched tone produced by a horn, electronic device, or the like as a signal, summons, or warning.
- one of the periodic signals sounded by a beeper.
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- to make or emit such a sound: When the timer beeps, take the cake out of the oven.
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- to sound (a horn, warning signal, etc.): impatient drivers beeping their horns.
- 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 beeping
Contemporary Examples
With the batphone to his great pal Bibi beeping and blinking nonstop, would Romney in essence have backed Mubarak?
beep
- a short high-pitched sound, esp one made by the horn of a car, bicycle, etc, or by electronic apparatus
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- to make or cause to make such a noise
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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 beeping
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