Skip A Beat Meaning

(by extension, idiomatic) To momentarily falter.

Example: 1997, David J. Pelzer, The lost boy: a foster child's search for the love of a family:
  My heart seemed to skip a beat when I parked my car at the old Safeway supermarket. My eyes gaped at the same aisles I had strolled through as a child.
1989, Lois Lowry, Number the stars:
  Her heart seemed to skip a beat. "Halte!" the soldier ordered in a stern voice.
2001, Linda Bremner, love in the mail:
  What set it apart and caused my heart to skip a beat were the words printed where the artist's signature usually goes, […]
2005, Amitav Ghosh, The hungry tide:
  THE MEGHA HAD BEEN on the water for some three hours when Piya heard the engine skip a beat.
2008, Alan Howard Levy, Floyd Patterson: a boxer and a gentleman:
  Indeed, he did not skip a beat, stayed right with his training regimen, and flew out to Seattle on August 8.