Literal translation
to have the beat-beat
Meaning
to have one's heart racing
Explanation
To have one's heart pounding fast, literally to have the beat beat. The expression comes from the expressive doubling of the third person of the verb batre, to beat, a common device in Provençal for marking intensity. Once fixed as a noun, the word took the -i ending typical of the Provençal, especially coastal, tendency to turn unstressed final -é into -i, giving bàti-bàti, with a strong stress on both syllables.