Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Spasm

Spasm (spăz'm), n. [F. spasme, L. spasmus, Gr. σπασμός, from σπάειν, σπᾶν, to draw, to cause convulsion. Cf. Span, v. t.] 1. (Med.) An involuntary and unnatural contraction of one or more muscles or muscular fibers.

☞ Spasm are usually either clonic or tonic. In clonic spasm, the muscles or muscular fibers contract and relax alternately in very quick succession. In tonic spasm, the contraction is steady and uniform, and continues for a comparatively long time, as in tetanus.

2. A sudden, violent, and temporary effort or emotion; as, a spasm of repentance.

Cynic spasm (Med.) See under Cynic. — Spasm of the chest. See Angina pectoris, under Angina.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.