heartbeat

Noun

• an animating or vital unifying force
  • New York is the commercial heartbeat of America
    

• a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
  • if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash
    

• the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
  • he could feel the beat of her heart
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  pulse , pulsation , beat