| diastole |
| Definition: The lengthening of a syllable or a vowel. |
| Example: It was soooo big! |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek dia, asunder + stellein, to place. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation is from 1580: "Heaven being used shorte as one sillable, when it is in verse stretched out with a Diastole, is like a lame dogge that holdes up one legge." (Spenser To Master G.H. Wks. (Globe) App. ii. 709/1) |