systole

plural systoles

1. countableuncountablemedicineThe rhythmic contraction of the heart, by which blood is driven through the arteries.

   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.

   1974, Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament

   2 more examples

   […] 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.

   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

   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.

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

2. countablerhetoricuncountablehuman sciencesA shortening of a naturally long vowel.
3. countableuncountablemathematicsThe shortest noncontractible loop on a compact metric space.
4. countableuncountablebiologyThe contraction of the contractile vesicles in certain algae, plasmodia, and zoospores.