SG Heritage Dictionary

Systole [\N] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. SYS'TOLE

2. SYS'TOLY, noun [Gr. to contract; to send.]

3. In grammar, the shortening of a long syllable.

4. In anatomy, the contraction of the heart for expelling the blood and carrying on the circulation. [ See Diastole .]

Systole [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The shortening of the long syllable.

2. The contraction of the heart and arteries by which the blood is forced onward and the circulation kept up; -- correlative to diastole.

Contraction Roget’s Thesaurus §195

V. become small, become smaller, lessen, decrease, grow less, dwindle, shrink, contract, narrow, shrivel, collapse, wither, lose flesh, wizen, fall away, waste, wane, ebb, decay, be smaller than, fall short of, not come up to, render smaller, lessen, diminish, contract, draw in, narrow, coarctate, boil down, constrict, constringe, condense, compress, squeeze, corrugate, crimp, crunch, crush, crumple up, warp, purse up, pack, squeeze, stow, pinch, tighten, strangle, cramp, dwarf, bedwarf, shorten, circumscribe, restrain, abrade, pare, reduce, attenuate, rub down, scrape, file, file down, grind, grind down, chip, shave, shear, wear down

Adj. contracting, astringent, shrunk, contracted, strangulated, tabid, wizened, stunted, waning, neap, compact, unexpanded &c. (expand ), contractile, compressible, smaller &c. (small )