Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Rigor
‖
1.
Rigidity; stiffness.
2.
(ed.)
A sense of chilliness, with contraction of the skin; a convulsive shuddering or tremor, as in the chill preceding a fever.
‖
Rigor caloris
[L., rigor of heat]
(Physiol.)
, a form of rigor mortis induced by heat, as when the muscle of a mammal is heated to about 50° C.
– ‖Rigor mortis
[L. , rigor of death]
, death stiffening; the rigidity of the muscles that occurs at death and lasts till decomposition sets in. It is due to the formation of myosin by the coagulation of the contents of the individual muscle fibers.
Rig′or
,Noun.
[Written also
rigour
.] 1.
The becoming stiff or rigid; the state of being rigid; rigidity; stiffness; hardness.
The rest his look
Bound with Gorgonian
Bound with Gorgonian
rigor
not to move. Milton.
3.
Severity of climate or season; inclemency;
as, the
rigor
of the storm; the rigors
of winter.4.
Stiffness of opinion or temper; rugged sternness; hardness; relentless severity; hard-heartedness; cruelty.
All his
rigor
is turned to grief and pity. Denham.
If I shall be condemn’d
Upon surmises, . . . I tell you
'T is
Upon surmises, . . . I tell you
'T is
rigor
and not law. Shakespeare
5.
Exactness without allowance, deviation, or indulgence; strictness;
as, the
; – opposed to rigor
of criticism; to execute a law with rigor
; to enforce moral duties with rigor
lenity
. 6.
Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain, abstinence, or mortification.
The prince lived in this convent with all the
rigor
and austerity of a capuchin. Addison.
7.
Violence; force; fury.
[Obs.]
Whose raging
rigor
neither steel nor brass could stay. Spenser.
Syn. – Stiffness; rigidness; inflexibility; severity; austerity; sternness; harshness; strictness; exactness.
Webster 1828 Edition
Rigor
RIG'OR
,Noun.
1.
Stiffness; rigidness; as Gorgonian rigor.2.
In medicine, a sense of chilliness, with contradiction of the skin; a convulsive shuddering or slight tremor, as in the cold fit of a fever.3.
Stiffness of opinion or temper; severity; sternness.All his rigor is turned to grief and pity.
4.
Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain, abstinence or mortification.5.
Strictness; exactness without allowance, latitude or indulgence; as the rigor of criticism; to execute a law with rigor; to enforce moral duties with rigor.6.
violence; fury. [Not in use.]7.
Hardness; solidity. [Unusual.]8.
Severity; asperity; as the rigors of a cold winter.