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View synonyms for pitapat

pitapat

[ pit-uh-pat ]

adverb

  1. with a quick succession of beats or taps:

    Her heart beat pitapat with excitement.



noun

  1. the movement or the sound of something going pitapat:

    the pitapat of hail on a roof.

verb (used without object)

, pit·a·pat·ted, pit·a·pat·ting.
  1. to go pitapat.

pitapat

/ ˌpɪtəˈpæt /

adverb

  1. with quick light taps or beats
“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

verb

  1. intr to make quick light taps or beats
“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

noun

  1. such taps or beats
“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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pitapat1

First recorded in 1515–25; imitative gradational compound
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Example Sentences

With quick beating or palpitation; pitapat.

Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pitapat!

Pitapat, pit′a-pat, adv. with palpitation or quick beating.—adj. fluttering.—n. a light, quick step: a succession of light taps.—v.i. to step or tread quickly.

I stood, and looked, and listened, and my heart went pitapat.

But in that guise it is you, sir, of to-day, and if your oration is spoken to one auditor, in all that lovely throng in the gallery, whose heart answers "pity Zekle" to your pitapat, do you think that the divine Una's grandmother was never young, and that the droll high-collared coats did not cover hearts as sensitive and hopes as high as the faultless summer attire of Nameless, Jun., class of '90?

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