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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.