Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Muscular stiffening following death.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Temporary stiffness of a body's muscles and joints following death.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun muscular stiffening that begins 2 to 4 hours after death and lasts for about 4 days
  • noun temporary stiffness of joints and muscular rigidity occurring after death

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin : rigor, stiffness + mortis, genitive of mors, death.]

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  • The name of a hot pepper sauce.

    September 22, 2009