noun
beat
An area of responsibility regularly assigned to a worker.
The reporter's beat includes local schools and universities.
Etymology
Repeated footfalls can beat a path through regular use. A worker’s beat developed from a regularly covered route into the district or subject area assigned to that person.
More examples
- An officer walked the same beat every evening.
- She covered the transportation beat for five years.
- The newspaper reassigned several reporters to new beats.
Forms
beat · beats
Similar words
- assignment
- Does not necessarily imply an ongoing territory or subject area.
- patch
- An informal assigned territory, especially for local reporting.