Beat may refer to: Battery (crime), contact on another person in a manner likely to cause bodily harm Assault; "beating up" is a type of assault Beat (music), the basic time unit of a piece of music Literature, theatre, film and music Beat (filmmaking), a 'bit' is also known (particularly in the US) as a beat, referring to the smallest unit of dramatic action in a play Beat (2000 film), a film about writer William Seward Burroughs, directed by Gary Walkow with Courtney Love and Kiefer Sutherla… (More on Beat)