pulsation en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /pəlˈseɪʃən/ (US)
- /pʌlˈseɪʃn̩/ (UK)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English pulsacioun (“pulsing of the blood, throbbing”), borrowed from Middle French pulsacion (“(of bells) a striking (end of 14th c.); (of a diseased part of the body) a throbbing (1377); pulsation (1575)”), and its source, Latin pulsātiō (“(classical Latin) a beating or striking; (Medieval Latin, medical) rhythmical expansion and contraction (1363 in Chauliac)”). By surface analysis, pulsate + -ion.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) The regular throbbing of the heart, an artery etc. in a living body; the pulse.
Pulsation had ceased. For three days the body was preserved unburied, during which it had acquired a stony rigidity.
1844, Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial:
-
(countable, uncountable) Any rhythmic beating, throbbing etc.
Lo! as a dove when up she springs To bear thro’ Heaven a tale of woe, Some dolorous message knit below The wild pulsation of her wings; Like her I go; I cannot stay; I leave this mortal ark behind […]
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
- (countable, uncountable) The rhythmic increase and decrease of size in naked zoospores and plasmodia.
-
(archaic, countable, uncountable) Physical striking; a blow.
By the Cornelian law, pulsation as well as verberation is prohibited.
1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
- (countable, uncountable) A single beat, throb or vibration.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| pulsations | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
electropulsation · pulsational · self-pulsation · micropulsation · counterpulsation
Relateds
Translations (6)
bg туптене (regular throbbing of the heart) · ar نَبْضُ القَلْب (regular throbbing of the heart) · uk пульса́ція (regular throbbing of the heart) · bg пулс (regular throbbing of the heart) · pt pulsação (regular throbbing of the heart) · ar نَبْض (regular throbbing of the heart)