skip a beat

skip a beat (third-person singular simple present skips a beat, present participle skipping a beat, simple past and past participle skipped a beat)

(literally) To miss a beat.
(by extension, when of a heart) To experience a strong emotion.
- 1997, David J. Pelzer, The lost boy: a foster child's search for the love of a family:
  My heart seemed to skip a beat when I parked my car at the old Safeway supermarket. My eyes gaped at the same aisles I had strolled through as a child.
- 1989, Lois Lowry, Number the stars:
  Her heart seemed to skip a beat. "Halte!" the soldier ordered in a stern voice.
- 2001, Linda Bremner, love in the mail:
  What set it apart and caused my heart to skip a beat were the words printed where the artist's signature usually goes, […]
(by extension, idiomatic) To momentarily falter.
- 2005, Amitav Ghosh, The hungry tide:
  THE MEGHA HAD BEEN on the water for some three hours when Piya heard the engine skip a beat.
- 2008, Alan Howard Levy, Floyd Patterson: a boxer and a gentleman:
  Indeed, he did not skip a beat, stayed right with his training regimen, and flew out to Seattle on August 8.

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