A beep is a single tone onomatopoeia, 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 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] A beep is also made when holding down too many keys at the same time, as the computer often cannot handle the processes.
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 outputs an audible "beep" noise to indicate that there is a second call coming in.
As a noun, the practice of "beeping" in sub-Saharan Africa refers to the cell phone phenomena during which a person dials a number but immediately hangs up the cell phone before the call is answered in order to elicit a call back from the recipient. One reason for this practice is to elicit a recipient to call back when the caller has almost run out of prepaid units for her cell phone but still wants or needs to talk to the recipient. In Rwanda, this practice has evolved into an art for courting between men and women, where women "beep" males in order to elicit a call back, which manifests the man's interest and willingness to pay for the woman's call. At times, this practice can be an inconvenience for the recipient, and at times, people ignore the "beeps." "Beeping" is also known as "flashing" in sub Saharan Africa, and is known as "menacing" or "fishing" in Indonesia.[2]
The use of profanity and offensive language on free-to-air broadcasts in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. is sometimes censored by replacing the profane word or phrase with an audible beep(s), accompanied by obscuring the speaker's mouth to prevent lip-reading. If there is a closed captioning, the word is commonly replaced by asterisks (Ex: "SHUT THE **** UP!")