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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Paralyze

Paralyze \Par"a*lyze\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Paralyzed; p. pr. & vb. n. Paralyzing.] [F. paralyser. See Paralysis.]

  1. To affect or strike with paralysis or palsy.

  2. Fig.: To unnerve; to destroy or impair the energy of; to render ineffective; as, the occurrence paralyzed the community; despondency paralyzed his efforts.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
paralyze

1804, from French paralyser (16c.), from Old French paralisie "paralysis," from Latin paralysis (see paralysis). Figurative use from 1805. Related: Paralyzed; paralyzing.

Wiktionary
paralyze

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To afflict with paralysis. 2 (context transitive English) To render unable to move; to immobilize. 3 (context transitive English) To render unable to function properly.

WordNet
paralyze
  1. v. make powerless and unable to function; "The bureaucracy paralyzes the entire operation" [syn: paralyse]

  2. cause to be paralyzed and immobile; "The poison paralyzed him"; "Fear paralyzed her" [syn: paralyse]

Usage examples of "paralyze".

Broken glass lay shattered on the streets, and great numbers of Chiar, paralyzed by their own assimilated outer coatings, stood like statues.

An alien overfullness of sensation paralyzes the nerves, suspends the autonomic processes, hollows out a blank between action and reaction.

Danish barkentine that sank in a storm in the early twenties, blocking the harbor, paralyzing shipping traffic for months.

For months now he had been paralyzed by grief, unable to feel or think or move, but that morning with the sheep when he had passed from sleep into waking had brought blood back to his limbs, warmth to his skin feeling to his heart, painful but blessedly welcome.

It was a hydroid, a development of that strange animal-vegetable that, sometimes almost microscopic, waves in the sea depths like a cluster of flowers paralyzing its prey with the mysterious force that dwells in its blossom heads!

As she lay paralyzed, Margo saw Menzies turn and hasten from the room, heard his faint yelling for a nurse.

PentOthal to put them to sleep, the, give them fifty ccs of pancuronium bron-fide, which paralyzes all their muscles except the heart, then finish UP with 50 ccs Of Potassium chloride to stop the heart muscle itself They never feel a thing.

The ER docs among you might make a more experienced guess and assume that it was done with a paralyzing relaxant like pancuronium bromide, curate, or succinylcholine.

She was waiting in the exact spot in which he left her when he got back, seemingly paralyzed by the un penetrable blackness that had surrounded her.

Certain affections of the womb and its appendages, in women, and, in men, stricture of the urethra, adherent prepuce, or foreskin, with wounds and injuries, many times of nerves and organs remote from the paralyzed points, cause the loss of power.

Several times she had awakened in a cold sweat, with her heart pounding, and her mind paralyzed with reasonless fear.

Nixon is mad enough to run the risk of paralyzing both the Congress and the people by resorting to such drastic measures.

Rushan jerked the blade out as soldiers fought for space, shoving each other out of the way, other guards rushing from the gateway, bystanders everywhere gaping and paralyzed, Wataki, the shishi informer, as surprised as any of the soldiers, and terrified he would become involved or betrayed by this shishi he recognized who had appeared out of nowhere.

I was able to get up I was given a wheel chair, for I was still almost paralyzed, and Stolpe delighted in wheeling me about.

As the wretched beast made no outcry, it was evident that it had either been paralyzed by the terrible telson, the poisonous sting at the end of the jointed tail, or slain by the immense chelae.