ataxy
(əˈtæksɪ, ˈætæksɪ)
Also 7 ataxie; in sense 2 often as L. ataxia.
[ad. Gr. ἀταξία, f. ἀ priv. + τάξις arrangement, order, f. τάσσ-ειν to arrange.]
† 1. Want of order or discipline; irregularity, confusion, disorderliness. Obs. in gen. sense.
| 1615 Byfield On Coloss. ii. 10 (1869) 205/2 There is [no] ataxy among those glorious creatures [i.e. angels]. 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 207 A mere ataxy, or confused chaos. a 1733 North Exam. iii. viii. ¶70 If it had been slipt over, he must have blamed his own Ataxy in the Disposition. |
2. Path. Irregularity of the animal functions, or of the symptoms of disease. locomotor ataxy: inability to co-ordinate the voluntary movements, constitutional unsteadiness in the use of legs, arms, etc.
| 1670 Maynwaringe Vita Sana i. 13 There ariseth Distempers, Ataxies and discord. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. viii. 305 A Woman very subject to vapours and ataxies of the animal spirits. 1855 H. Spencer Psychol. (1872) I. i. ii. 5 An early stage of ataxy. 1878 A. Hamilton Nerv. Dis. 208 Locomotor ataxia..often occurs among sea-faring men who have fallen overboard. |