convulsive, a. (n.)
(kənˈvʌlsɪv)
[ad. L. type *convulsīv-us (prob. in med. or mod.L. of medicine), f. convuls- ppl. stem + -ive. Cf. mod.F. convulsif, -ive. (not in Cotgr. 1611).]
1. Of the nature of convulsion; characterized or accompanied by convulsion.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 250 There is a threefold motion of the wombe, one altogether naturall, another altogether Symptomicall and Convulsiue. 1701 Rowe Amb. Step-Moth. v. i, I cannot bear These fierce convulsive Starts. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 277 Spasmodic or convulsive affections. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 397 The hand that trembled in his grasp Was crushed by his convulsive clasp. 1864 N. Syd. Soc. Year-Bk. for 1863, 94 On the Therapeutical value of Cod-liver Oil in Chronic Convulsive Diseases. |
b. fig.: cf. convulsion 3.
| a 1797 Wilkes Corr. (1805) V. 187 England has continued..to oppose the ambitious views of France; except during two short, critical, and convulsive intervals. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot. x. 421 To prevent convulsive and perilous reforms. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. viii. 243 Earth-movements of the convulsive kind we call earthquakes. |
2. Affected with convulsion (lit. and fig.).
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. vii. 249 Subterraneous Streams issuing from an Hiatus of a convulsive Mountain. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 952 Rolling convulsive on the floor. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xviii. 142 Suddenly becoming convulsive and making an effort to tear her front off. |
3. Productive of convulsion; tending to convulse.
| a 1700 Dryden (J.), Convulsive rage possess'd Her trembling limbs, and heav'd her lab'ring breast. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xxv. 760 His whole frame was agitated with convulsive passion. 1844 Stanley Arnold (1858) I. vi. 233 Nothing so..convulsive to society, as the strain to keep things fixed. |
† B. n. A drug that causes ‘convulsion’ or contraction (see convulsion 2 a). Obs.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Tumour, You must neither use Convulsives nor Repercusives. |