| Look up beep in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
A beep is a single tone, generally made by a computer or a machine.
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In some computer terminals, the ASCII character code 7, bell character, outputs an audible beep. The beep is also sometimes used to notify the end-user when the BIOS is not working or there is some other error during the start up process, often during the power-on self-test (POST).[1]
Beeps are also used as a warning when a truck or bus is reversing. It can also be used to define the sound produced by a car horn. Colloquially beep is also used to refer to the action of honking the car horn at someone, (e.g., "Why did that guy beep at me?"), and is more likely to be used with vehicles with higher-pitched horns, "honk" is used if the sound is lower pitched, (i.e.: Volkswagen Beetles beep, but Oldsmobiles honk.
A beep is also considered a colloquialism to describe a second telephone call coming in on the same phone line as someone is currently speaking, either on a landline or mobile phone. The call waiting feature often gives an audible "beep" noise to indicate that there is a second call coming in.
The use of profanity on free-to-air broadcasts in the UK, the U.S., Canada, and Japan is sometimes censored by replacing the profane word or phrase with an audible beep(s).
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