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Definition of beep in English:

beep

Pronunciation /bēp/ /bip/

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noun

  • A short, high-pitched sound emitted by electronic equipment or a vehicle horn.

    ‘leave a message after the beep’
    • ‘Someone was beeping a car horn, long and short beeps that sounded like Morse code.’
    • ‘Sorry I couldn't come to the phone right now, but leave your name number and a short message after the beep and I'll holler right back atcha!’
    • ‘The sound of an electronic beep, over and over again, echoing my heartbeats.’
    • ‘The beginning message ended and the beep sounded, but there didn't seem to be anyone on the other end.’
    • ‘I'd started to protest by saying that she was technically my daughter too and that I had the right to talk to her about it, but there was a click and the beeps sounded, signaling that she'd hung up on me.’
    • ‘Three high-pitched beeps rang out from the box and she raised the top off of it.’
    • ‘Pushing a few buttons on the alarm, a beep sounded and she gave me a brief smile.’
    • ‘Whereas a beep or alarm could sound whenever a forward pass is made and a player is in an offside decision.’
    • ‘It has no loudspeaker and the only sound it can emit is a beep.’
    • ‘Numerous electronic flashes, beeps, and the sounds of heart resuscitators occur with increasing intensity.’
    • ‘So, when you activate the Smart Alarm as you leave your car, it will produce a succession of short beeps.’
    • ‘From the entrance to the gym, he clicked the alarm for his car and the little beep sounded.’
    • ‘My alarm sounded Monday morning, as usual, bringing me out of my slumber with a series of deranged, high-pitched beeps.’
    • ‘This computer occasionally emitted beeps and tones.’
    • ‘The computer was turned on and played a short song out of beeps and blips, quite original, Katana thought.’
    • ‘Three loud beeps emitted throughout the hallway and the lady's voiced echoed.’
    • ‘The alarm clock was vibrating and a loud beep was emitting from it every couple of seconds.’
    • ‘Hello, you have reached Gram, please leave a message at the sound of the beep.’
    • ‘There's also the beeps emitted from the reverse parking sensor.’
    • ‘Promptly at ten ‘till eight, there were two sharp car horn beeps from in front of my house.’
    audible warning, purr, purring, ring, ringing, note, tone, beep, bleep, meep, warble, signal, alarm, alert

intransitive verb

[no object]

  • 1(of a horn or electronic device) produce a short, high-pitched sound.

    ‘radio receivers squawked and beeped’
    • ‘I groan when one of the devices starts beeping or ringing or humming in a darkened theater.’
    • ‘Different mechanical devices beeped and whirred on tables and panels.’
    • ‘The car horn beeped, signaling that my father was getting extremely impatient.’
    • ‘Car horns beeped, children screamed, cash registers rang through open doorways.’
    • ‘Around fifteen minutes later, they heard a horn beeping in the distance.’
    • ‘At ten past eight, a horn beeped from outside her house.’
    • ‘I hear horns beeping from every direction and they only keep getting louder.’
    • ‘Horns beeped and a slight drizzle fell, beating against the windows.’
    • ‘Machines beeped and buzzed throughout the empty hospital room.’
    • ‘Once it locks onto the exact source of the signal, the detector starts beeping.’
    • ‘Computers beep randomly between keystrokes, when Enter is pressed, or when the screen changes.’
    • ‘The sound of heart monitors beeping out of sync with each other faded as I opened the door and walked out.’
    • ‘In the kitchen, the oven beeped that the timer had run out.’
    • ‘After a minute, the machine beeped and the green light on the side flashed, indicating that her card had been cleared.’
    • ‘His computer beeped, signalling to him that the results he was looking for were found.’
    • ‘I can hear their alarm clocks beep, see their lights flick on.’
    • ‘The machine beeped, signaling that the first message was finished.’
    • ‘I woke up the next morning with my answering machine beeping happily.’
    • ‘I was just about to sit down when Matt's heart monitor started beeping wildly.’
    • ‘I smiled back at her and we talked until the oven beeped, telling us that the chicken was ready to be devoured.’
    purr, sound, reverberate, ring, beep, bleep, warble
    1. 1.1North American with object Summon (someone) by means of a pager.
      ‘they have themselves beeped in restaurants’
      • ‘His Palm now beeps him to take the drug, as well as his vitamins.’
      • ‘This could be one of his juiciest scoops in months, and it was all Jared could do to stop himself from beeping Todd again.’
      • ‘She was asleep at the hotel when I beeped her, but she admitted that she would do anything to get away from Alex.’
      • ‘She decided to beep her uncle, professor Wanez.’
      • ‘‘I will beep her for you, she will be here in a few moments’ the nurse answered concern showed on the man's face.’
      • ‘Yes, that's right, you can stick the probe in the meat, set the thing to beep you when it hits the right temperature, and toddle off to the deck with a Tom Collins.’
      • ‘She offers to make fettuccine for dinner and is about to dump some other kind of pasta into cold water when Falcon, one of Aiden's contacts, beeps him in code.’
      • ‘So I beep him and we have a little chat about things and I tell him I'm very unhappy and he should come round… maybe he will, maybe not… we know what that means.’
      • ‘You may contact me by email, or beep me or call me at home.’
      • ‘As one might expect, people who were watching TV when we beeped them reported feeling relaxed and passive.’
      • ‘The idea is to allow them to have more time doing other things - they will be beeped for the rides when their turn comes.’

Origin

1920s imitative.