systole

See also: Systole

English

The diastole (filling) and systole (pumping) processes of a healthy human heart

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin, from Ancient Greek συστολή (sustolḗ), from συστέλλω (sustéllō, “to contract”), from σύν (sún, “together”) + στέλλω (stéllō, “to send”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪstəli/
• Homophone: sisterly (in non-rhotic accents)

Noun

systole (plural systoles)

1. (physiology) The rhythmic contraction of the heart, by which blood is driven through the arteries.
   • 1653, William Harvey, “The Causes which Mov’d the Author to Write”, in [anonymous], transl., The Anatomical Exercises of Dr. William Harvey […] Concerning the Motion of the Heart and Blood. […], London: […] Francis Leach, for Richard Lownes […], →OCLC, pages 1–2:

     […] I did almoſt beleeve, that the motion of the Heart vvas knovvn to God alone: For neither could I rightly diſtinguiſh, vvhich vvay the Diaſtole and Systole came to be, nor vvhen nor vvhere the dilation and conſtriction had its exiſtence.

   • 1972, Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things, McGraw-Hill, published 1972, pages 78–9:

     A double systole catapulted him into full consciousness again, and he promised his uncorrected self that he would limit his daily ration of cigarettes to a couple of heartbeats.

   • 1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament:

     There is no essential virtue in comfort. To be relaxed is good if it is part of a process of systole and diastole. Relaxation comes between phases of tenseness.

2. (prosody) A shortening of a naturally long vowel.
3. (mathematics) The shortest noncontractible loop on a compact metric space.

Antonyms

• diastole

Hypernyms

• (prosody): metaplasm

Derived terms

• asystole
• systolic

Translations

contraction of the heart

• Dutch: systole (nl) f
• Galician: sístole (gl) f
• Georgian: სისტოლა (ka) (sisṭola)
• German: Systole (de) f
• Greek: συστολή (el) f (systolí)
• Hungarian: szisztolé (hu)
• Irish: croíchrapadh m
• Portuguese: sístole (pt) f
• Russian: систола (ru) (sistola)
• Spanish: sístole (es) f
• Swedish: systole (sv)
• Welsh: hwrdd y galon m

Anagrams

• tolseys, toyless, tyloses

Dutch

Etymology

From French systole, from Ancient Greek συστολή (sustolḗ), from συστέλλω (sustéllō, “to contract”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪsˈtoː.lə/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

systole f (plural systoles)

1. (physiology) systole

Antonyms

• diastole

French

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin, from Ancient Greek συστολή (sustolḗ), from συστέλλω (sustéllō, “to contract”), from σύν (sún, “together”) + στέλλω (stéllō, “to send”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sis.tɔl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

systole f (plural systoles)

1. (physiology) systole

   Antonym: diastole

Further reading

• “systole”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.