Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Tetanus
‖
Tet′a-nus
,Noun.
[L., fr. Gr. [GREEK], fr. [GREEK] stretched, [GREEK] to stretch.]
1.
(Med.)
A painful and usually fatal disease, resulting generally from a wound, and having as its principal symptom persistent spasm of the voluntary muscles. When the muscles of the lower jaw are affected, it is called
locked-jaw
, or lickjaw
, and it takes various names from the various incurvations of the body resulting from the spasm. 2.
(Physiol.)
That condition of a muscle in which it is in a state of continued vibratory contraction, as when stimulated by a series of induction shocks.
Webster 1828 Edition
Tetanus
TET'ANUS
,Noun.
Definition 2024
Tetanus
tetanus
tetanus
See also: Tetanus
English
Muscular spasms in a patient suffering from tetanus.
Noun
tetanus (usually uncountable, plural tetani)
- (pathology, countable) A serious and often fatal disease caused by the infection of an open wound with the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani, found in soil and the intestines and faeces of animals.
- (physiology, countable) A state of muscle tension caused by sustained contraction arising from a rapid series of nerve impulses which do not allow the muscle to relax.
- 1998 January 16, Pierre-Marie Lledo et al., “Postsynaptic Membrane Fusion and Long-Term Potentiation”, in Science, volume 279, number 5349, DOI:, pages 399-403:
- We first saturated LTP in one pathway by applying repetitive tetani that had no effect on the control pathway (Fig. 4 B).
-
Synonyms
- (disease caused by Clostridium tetani): lockjaw
Derived terms
Translations
disease
|
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek τέτανος (tétanos); New Latin usage specific to the bacteria-caused disease.
Noun
tetanus m (genitive tetanī); second declension
- A stiffness or spasm of the neck; tetanus
- (New Latin) The disease caused by Clostridium tetani.
References
- tetanus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- TETANUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “tetanus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.