Beats lentils, perhaps over a tabletop (8)
I believe the answer is:
pulsates
'beats' is the definition.
(I know this)
'lentils perhaps over a tabletop' is the wordplay.
'lentils perhaps' becomes 'pulses' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'over' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'tabletop' becomes 't' (top of the word 'table').
'a'+'t'='at'
'pulses' placed around 'at' is 'PULSATES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pulsates that I've seen before include "Palpitates or throbs like heart" , "Throbs like 6 Down" , "Throbs regularly like heart" .)