Pulsation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /pʌlˈseɪʃn̩/

Definitions

1. A rhythmic throbbing or beating movement, typically referring to the regular expansion and contraction of blood vessels or other cyclical oscillations in physical systems
2. A continuous and regular rhythmic motion, often seen in the throbbing of arteries or in various mechanical oscillations and vibrational patterns
3. Characterized by a series of repeated rhythmic beats or flows, commonly associated with biological functions or physical processes exhibiting regular intervals

Etymology: Latin "pulsare" meant "to beat or strike" repeatedly, and the noun "pulsatio" carried that sense of striking, as in a blow or the sounding of something struck. The physical meaning of a rhythmic beat was attached to the body early on. By the 1300s, Middle English "pulsacioun" was used for the pulsing of the blood, and the medieval Latin medical writer Guy de Chauliac (1363) used the word for the regular swelling and shrinking of the arteries, which is the sense that still dominates today. The earliest English uses were not limited to the body. The French "pulsacion" was applied to bells being struck, and the throbbing of a diseased part of the body, before it acquired the general sense of any rhythmic beating or pulse.

Synonyms: beating, throbbing, pulsing, vibration, rhythm