pitapat

[ pit-uh-pat ]
See synonyms for pitapat on Thesaurus.com
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.

Origin of pitapat

1
First recorded in 1515–25; imitative gradational compound

Words Nearby pitapat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pitapat in a sentence

  • And Stempenju dissolves on his violin and melts like wax; pitapat is all you may hear.

  • Scolding and pushing pitapat out before her, she closed the door with a bang.

    Hidden Hand | Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
  • "Three times and out," he whispered as the boys' hearts went pitapat.

    A Son of the City | Herman Gastrell Seely
  • She walks the deck; and tick, tick, pitapat, go the four little paws after her.

    Palmetto-Leaves | Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • Somebody marched pitapat about the room, and somebody danced by the fireplace.

    The Chronicles of Rhoda | Florence Tinsley Cox

British Dictionary definitions for pitapat

pitapat

/ (ˌpɪtəˈpæt) /


adverb
  1. with quick light taps or beats

verb-pats, -patting or -patted
  1. (intr) to make quick light taps or beats

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