▪ I. ‖ rigor
(ˈraɪgɔː(r), ˈrɪgɔː(r))
Also 5 rigoor.
[L. rigor numbness, stiffness, related to rigēre to be stiff, rigidus rigid a.]
1. Path. A sudden chill, esp. one accompanied with fits of shivering which immediately precedes certain fevers and inflammations. (Cf. rigour 7.)
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 120 A rigor is no þing ellis, but as it were a prickynge of nedelis, or ellis of netlis in þe fleisch, & if þis rigor come wiþ a feuere, or ellis without feuere, it is þe worste signe tokene of deeþ. |
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 76 If it be goaded by any sharpe humor, it causeth a rigor or shiuering. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Rigor, a Vibration and Concussion of the Skin and Muscles of the whole Body, accompanied with Chilness. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. i. 261 Extreme Cold stimulates, producing first a Rigor, and then a glowing Heat. 1776–84 Cullen First Lines Physic i. i. Wks. 1827 I. 483 The patient's sense of cold increasing, produces a tremor in all his limbs, with frequent succussions, or rigors of the trunk. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 698 It may be employed at the very onset of the fevers during the rigors. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 936, I have also observed five cases of rigors..occurring immediately after an injection of serum. |
| attrib. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases ii. 50 The rigor stage is relatively less marked. |
2. a. rigor mortis, the stiffening of the body following upon death.
| 1839–47 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 524/1 Passive contraction is a vital act, for it ceases with the rigor mortis. 1873 T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. (ed. 2) 13 The more healthy and vigorous this [nutrition of the muscles] is,..the longer it is before the rigor mortis supervenes. |
b. fig.
| 1929 W. Faulkner Sanctuary (1981) v. 59 A tradition..in the throes of its own rigor-mortis. 1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. 131 Socrate..has something of the rigor mortis always associated with overtheorized music. 1977 Rolling Stone 16 June 39/2 He showed up at the producer's black-tie party, an occasion to normally give him rigor mortis. |
▪ II. rigor
variant of rigour.