diastole

American  

[dahy-as-tl-ee, -tl-ee] / daɪˈæs tlˌi, -tl i /

noun

1. Physiology. the normal rhythmical dilatation of the heart during which the chambers are filling with blood.

2. Prosody. the lengthening of a syllable regularly short, especially before a pause or at the ictus.

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diastole British  

/ daɪˈæstəlɪ /

noun

1. the dilatation of the chambers of the heart that follows each contraction, during which they refill with blood Compare systole

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diastole Scientific  

/ dī-ăs′tə-lē /

1. The period during the normal beating of the heart in which the chambers of the heart dilate and fill with blood. Diastole of the atria occurs before diastole of the ventricles.

2. Compare systole

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Other Word Forms

• diastolic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of diastole

1570–80; < Late Latin diastolē < Greek diastolḗ a putting asunder, dilation, lengthening; compare diastéllein to set apart, equivalent to dia- dia- + stéllein to put, place

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Explanation

When your heart beats, it squeezes and relaxes; diastole is when it relaxes and fills with blood. Since the 16th century, doctors have used the Greek word diastole, or "dilation," for the stage in the cardiac cycle when the heart muscle relaxes and its ventricles dilate, or widen. The contraction that follows is called systole. Every beat of your heart is a repetition of these two phases, with a drop in blood pressure during diastole as its chambers are refilled.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

diastole

During systole, when new blood is entering the arteries, the artery walls stretch to accommodate the increase of pressure of the extra blood; during diastole, the walls return to normal because of their elastic properties.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

For example, 120/80 indicates a reading of 120 mm Hg during the systole and 80 mm Hg during diastole.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

One of the primary factors to consider is filling time, or the duration of ventricular diastole during which filling occurs.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

In the second phase of ventricular diastole, called late ventricular diastole, as the ventricular muscle relaxes, pressure on the blood within the ventricles drops even further.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

The phrase systole and diastole is now applied to the alternate contraction and expansion of the heart; San Agustin apparently uses it through fondness for a learned phrase.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55 1690-1691 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Emma Helen Blair

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