diastole

1. (chiefly uncountable, physiology) The phase or process of relaxation and dilation of the heart chambers, between contractions, during which they fill with blood; an instance of the process.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."; "In patients with rapid rates, diastole may be sufficiently shortened that the third and fourth heart sounds become superimposed and form a summation gallop."; "Of the total cardiac cycle at this rate, diastole accounts for 0.50 s, or 62% of the cycle, and systole accounts for 0.31 s, or 38%."uncountableusually

2. (uncountable, prosody) The lengthening of a vowel or syllable beyond its typical length.Examples: "1815 March and June, On the Greek and Latin Accents, The Classical Journal, Volume XI, page 81, I have inserted diastole which is omitted in Putschius, an insertion which both the complement, and the subsequent text make necessary."; "[A]ccording to prosody, this syllable has the diastole and the stress, whereas the second of “cujus” or of “animam” has not."; "Surely Goethe′s basic dichotomy of systole and diastole in the Divan poem[…]."uncountableusually

3. (Greek grammar) The hypodiastole, a textual or punctuation mark formerly used to disambiguate homonyms in Greek.Greekuncountableusually