Lub-dub
intj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Of a heart, to beat. intransitive
"I pulled my eyes away to glance downstream at a cinder cone perched at the brink of the left Esplanade above the mouth of Prospect Canyon and the still-hidden Lava Falls. My heart lub-dubbed a few beats quicker."
- 1 Used to represent the normal rhythm of the heart on auscultation, comprising the first and second heart sounds. onomatopoeic
"Ralph tried to listen above the steady lub-dub, lub-dub of Ryan's heart, but soon he grew bored. Ryan's shirt was new and the flannel still fuzzy. Ralph nipped a hole in the front of the pocket for a better view and then, lulled by the muffled lub-dub, lub-dub and the steady rise and fall of Ryan's chest, fell asleep as if he were being rocked in a cradle."
Example
More examples"Ralph tried to listen above the steady lub-dub, lub-dub of Ryan's heart, but soon he grew bored. Ryan's shirt was new and the flannel still fuzzy. Ralph nipped a hole in the front of the pocket for a better view and then, lulled by the muffled lub-dub, lub-dub and the steady rise and fall of Ryan's chest, fell asleep as if he were being rocked in a cradle."
Etymology
The low-pitched, longer first heart sound forms lub. The higher-pitched, shorter second heart sound forms dub.
More for "lub-dub"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.