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heart rate n a measure of cardiac activity usu. expressed as number of beats per minute see maximum heart rate
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the number of contractions of the ventricles of the heart per unit of time (usually a minute). It usually corresponds to the pulse rate, but occasionally some of the contractions of the left ventricle fail to produce peripheral pulse waves, so that the rate of the pulse at the wrist is less than that of the heart.Medical dictionary. 2011.