Less ambiguous synonym for “hold up”?

Question

The fundamental, simple meaning of the phrase "hold up" is "keep in upper position" or close derivative meanings: "keep it active", "keep it running", especially in situation when it would stop/drop by itself without holding.

Unfortunately, due to it being a phrasal verb with a truly impressive list of meanings, using hold up in its simple meaning becomes awfully ambiguous, especially if there's no context to qualify the meaning.

In particular, I need to name a hold-up time, the time during which a signal remains active after its normal activation source is gone, and not have it confusable with the meaning of hold up as something that prevents start. Can you help me find a neat synonym for such a meaning?

Answer 1

You can call it the "stretch time". The term "stretch" is commonly used to indicate the time added to a signal's active state to ensure that a brief signal isn't missed by a detector that requires a minimum signal length. The word "stretch" clearly connotes the concept of added length. Devices that do just this are often called "pulse stretchers".

 

The output pulse, shown at FIG. 3F, from the multivibrator 28 is fed to another monostable multivibrator 30. Multivibrators 26 and 28 are triggered by the leading edge of the output pulse 3D from the Schmitt trigger 24 and, moreover, the length, or duration of the output pulse (FIG. 3E) from multivibrator 26 is adjusted so as to be longer than the input pulse 3C. The pulse of FIG. 3E sets the stretch time for the input pulse of FIG. 3C. The monostable multivibrator 28 sets the time for the triggering of the multivibrator 30 and the latter multivibrator provides an output pulse having the general shape shown in FIG. 3G. -- US Patent 3,681,601

 

A positive pulse g will appear at the output of comparator 8 whenever the negative pulse associated with a QRS wave crosses the threshold f. The output of comparator 8 is applied to a stretch circuit 9 in which a capacitor is rapidly charged to a fixed voltage during each pulse g and allowed to discharge only after the end of each such pulse. When the capacitor is so charged a positive "Blanking pulse" h appears at the output of the stretch circuit comparator and remains present until the capacitor has discharged from the above fixed voltage to some pre-set lower voltage. The stretch circuit operates so as to extend each pulse g by a fixed time** so chosen that the Blanking pulse duration exceeds the duration of the QRS wave initiating it by, for example 150 msec. -- US Patent 3,654,916

Answer 2

From your description of what you intend, perhaps you want something like "persistence time"- which should convey that something remains active despite conditions (in your case, the absence of the activation source). For further clarification, "signal persistence time" might remove any further ambiguity depending on the context.

Answer 3

The notion of residue might work: Residual light, residual power, residual energy, residual signal.

Answer 4

I like dorchard's persist and also offer endure:

: to continue in the same state

So you could call it endurance time.

Answer 5

...the time during which a signal remains active after its normal activation source is gone

This could be called the die-off time since you are referring to the time between the removal of the signal source and when the signal is not longer detectable.

Answer 6

If I understand correctly, you're looking to describe the amount of time it takes the signal to drop below a certain threshold after it's sustain has ended. I believe it would not be incorrect to call that decay time, as that is commonly used in musical and electronic applications.