a. [ad. late L. systalticus, a. Gr. συσταλτικός, f. σύν SYN- + σταλτός, vbl. adj. f. σταλ-: στέλλειν to place, put (cf. SYSTOLE). Cf. F. systaltique.]
1. Phys. Contracting; of the nature of contraction; spec. applied to movement, as that of the heart, in which there is alternate contraction (systole) and dilatation (diastole).
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 772. The Systaltick motion of the circumjacent parts, for returning the bloud along the veins to the heart.
1747. trans. Astruc’s Fevers, 156. In such disorders, the sudden systaltic constriction of the skin produces the chilness.
1848. Dunglison, Med. Lex. (ed. 7).
† 2. Applied to the power of ‘materialization’ (conceived as contraction or condensation) of a disembodied or unembodied spirit. Obs.
1687. H. More, Contn. Remark. Stor. (1689), 411. An eminent Example of this Systaltick Power of Spirits, viz., an Arm seen … striking such a stroke upon the Floor, that it made the very Walls of the House to shake.
1712. H. More’s Antid. Ath., III. ix. § 2. Schol. 173. The Devil would so manage himself by the motion … of his body, which by this Systaltick power he could make tangible and palpable.
† 3. In ancient Greek music applied to a style of melody having the effect of ‘contracting’ or depressing the mind, or affecting it with tender emotion Obs.
a. 1698. W. Holder, Princ. Harmony (1731), 151. The First of these [Keys] is call’d by the Greeks Diastaltic, Dilating; the Second, Systaltic, Contracting; the Last, Hesychiastic, Appeasing.
1776. Burney, Hist. Mus., I. v. 69. Melopoeia was divided into three kinds: first, the Systaltic, or that which inspired the … tender passions, as well as the plaintive.
