pulse

A beat or throb; the movement of an artery or other ve el, especially the perceptible impulse communicated to the contained column of blood by each beat of the heart, abdominal p. A p. observed in emaciated persons over the line of the abdominal aorta, abrupt p. A quick p. an acrotic p. A p. showing a secondary wave on the ascending limb of the main wave, arachnoid p. An old term for a small and tremulous p. ardent p. A p. which seems to strike the finger at a single point, capillary p. A condition of alternating redne and pallor of a ti ue sometimes observed (most readily in the matrices beneath the nails), attributed to a pulsatile flow of blood through the capillaries instead of the usual steady current; occurring chiefly where an exce ive cardiac impulse coincides with general arterial narrowing. caprizant p. A peculiar irregularity of the p. in which a weak pulsation is succeeded by a strong one. cat acrotic p. A p. that shows one or more secondary waves on the descending limb of the main wave, collapsing p. A p. that strikes the finger feebly and abruptly and subsides suddenly and completely. complex p. A p. continuously alternating from hard and rapid to soft and slow, compre ible p. See soft p. Corrigan's p. Syn.: locomotive water hammer p. See under Corrigan. critical p. See incident p. dicrotal p., dicrotic p., dicrotous p. A p. in which the finger feels two distinct blows, one lighter than the other, for each cardiac systole. It occurs when the heart pulsations are strong and the arterial PULSE tension is diminished; it is due to the emphasizing, under these conditions, of the dicrotic wave. dropped-beat p.