Blood pressure is the lateral pressure exerted by the column of blood on the wall of arteries; the term refers to arterial pressure.
Arterial pressure fluctuates with the cardiac cycle, rising during systole and falling during diastole.
Clinical
Because arterial pressure varies continuously through the cardiac cycle rather than holding one fixed value, its clinical recording captures this systolic to diastolic swing, not a single static reading.
High Yield
Blood pressure = lateral pressure exerted by the column of blood on the arterial wall; synonymous with arterial pressure.
Arterial pressure fluctuates through the cardiac cycle: rises in systole, falls in diastole.