Systole

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Systole \Sys"to*le\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to contract; sy`n
     with + ? to set, place.]
     1. (Gram.) The shortening of the long syllable.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Physiol. & Biol.) The contraction of the heart and


        arteries by which the blood is forced onward and the
        circulation kept up; also, the contraction of a
        rhythmically pulsating contractile vacuole; -- correlative
        to {diastole}. -- {Sys*tol"ic}, a.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  systole
       n : the contraction of the chambers of the heart (especially the
           ventricles) to drive blood into the aorta and pulmonary
           artery

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  58 Moby Thesaurus words for "systole":
     abbreviation, arsis, astriction, astringency, beat, bottleneck,
     bout, cervix, circle, circuit, circumscription, coarctation,
     compactedness, compaction, compression, compressure, concentration,
     condensation, consolidation, constriction, constringency,
     contraction, contracture, course, curtailment, cycle, decrease,
     diastole, diminuendo, downbeat, hourglass, hourglass figure,
     isthmus, knitting, narrow place, narrowing, neck, puckering, pulse,
     pursing, reduction, revolution, rotation, round, series,
     shortening, solidification, spell, stranglement, strangulation,
     striction, stricture, thesis, turn, upbeat, wasp waist, wheel,
     wrinkling