clonic, a. Path.
(ˈklɒnɪk)
[f. Gr. κλόνος violent confused motion, turmoil (esp. of battle) + -ic. Cf. F. clonique.]
Applied to spasms in which violent muscular contractions and relaxations take place in rapid succession; opposed to tonic.
| 1849 H. Mayo Pop. Superstit. (1851) 81 Clonic spasm, for instance, the contortions and convulsive struggles of epilepsy. 1871 Hammond Dis. Nervous Syst. 39 Tonic spasm, followed by clonic convulsion. 1883 Nature 22 Mar. 486 The convulsions are not continuous, but are clonic. |