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spasm
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
spasm
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a muscle spasm (=when your muscles tighten suddenly)
▪ The drug helps control painful muscle spasms.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
back
▪ Right guard Kevin Gogan had a hip pointer and back spasms.
▪ They won without point guard Cameron Murray, who played only two minutes before departing with back spasms.
▪ With Loy Vaught bothered by back spasms, Murray got his first start since Jan. 20.
■ NOUN
muscle
▪ Only by restoring his muscle spasm had he been able to conquer the impulse to commit suicide.
▪ His left leg was going into muscle spasms of some sort and he clutched at his knee with frustration.
▪ Symptoms of poisoning by the chemical, which is used in sheep dip, include nausea, headaches and muscle spasms.
▪ It was probably due to muscle spasm and ligament strain, possibly as a result of lack of general fitness and poor sleep.
▪ Many people control their feelings through muscle tension and may re-experience these feelings spontaneously when the muscle spasm is broken up.
■ VERB
go
▪ Mrs Popple lay on the bathroom floor, her jaw muscles having gone into spasms.
▪ His left leg was going into muscle spasms of some sort and he clutched at his knee with frustration.
▪ There isn't a moment when the lad isn't twitching or jerking or going into spasm.
▪ She choked and spat out some seawater and then swallowed a lungful as she went into a spasm again.
▪ Some drugs, such as nifedipine, can prevent hand arteries from going into spasm.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A spasm of pain twisted Cheviot's face.
▪ Grant missed Monday night's game due to back spasms.
▪ He lay on the ground, breathless and frightened, waiting for the next spasm.
▪ The muscle spasms started in his lower left leg and spread upwards.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But as it was ... As it was, Dyson had experienced a genuine spasm.
▪ Deep, cramping spasms ran up and down her legs and twitched in her back.
▪ Froebe's eyes opened weakly, and he coughed in a huge racking spasm.
▪ Hemifacial spasm is not psychogenic as was commonly thought in the past, although it may be aggravated by emotional stress.
▪ Her fingers were jumping rhythmically, as if in spasm.
▪ His left leg was going into muscle spasms of some sort and he clutched at his knee with frustration.
▪ Just as suddenly as it had begun, the spasm seemed to fade.
▪ Recurring spasms of gloom and euphoria tend to be self-fulfilling.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Spasm

Spasm \Spasm\, n. [F. spasme, L. spasmus, Gr. ?, from ?, ?, to draw, to cause convulsion. Cf. Span, v. t.]

  1. (Med.) An involuntary and unnatural contraction of one or more muscles or muscular fibers.

    Note: 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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
spasm

late 14c., "sudden violent muscular contraction," from Old French spasme (13c.) and directly from Latin spasmus "a spasm," from Greek spasmos "a spasm, convulsion," from span "draw up, tear away, contract violently, pull, pluck," from PIE *spe- "stretch." Figurative sense of "a sudden convulsion" (of emotion, politics, etc.) is attested from 1817.

spasm

1900, from spasm (n.). Related: Spasmed; spasming.

Wiktionary
spasm

n. 1 A sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ. 2 A violent, excruciating seizure of pain. 3 A sudden and temporary burst of energy, activity, or emotion. vb. To produce and undergo a #Noun.

WordNet
spasm
  1. n. a painful and involuntary muscular contraction [syn: cramp, muscle spasm]

  2. (pathology) sudden constriction of a hollow organ (as a blood vessel)

Wikipedia
Spasm

A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ such as the heart.

A spasmodic muscle contraction may be caused by many medical conditions, including dystonia. Most commonly, it is a muscle cramp which is accompanied by a sudden burst of pain. A muscle cramp is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes. It is typically caused by ion imbalance or muscle overload.

There are other causes of involuntary muscle contractions, and some of these may cause a health problem.

Spasm (album)

Spasm is the title of English metal band Peach's fifth release, released in 1993. It was originally released as a 2-track 7" Vinyl and is now extremely rare. This song has been covered in concert by the band Tool, who Peach's former bass player Justin Chancellor is now a part of.

Usage examples of "spasm".

This is a powerful antispasmodic, and has been successfully used in bilious colic, nausea, and spasm of the bowels.

This is a powerful antispasmodic, and is effective in relaxing spasms of all kinds.

A spasm reached deep into his lungs, as if all his bronchia had constricted at once with a snap like a trap closing.

Some bronchitic invalid had gouged a huge blob from his lungs and, weakened by his spasm of coughing, had managed only enough force to give it a partial revolution after its impact with the floor.

I blocked my own spasms of sweating tremors by finding the microdot on Naxos among the encyclopedia cards and reading it through the viewer.

With peristaltic spasms, as of slimy, repulsive intestines, it came up to the glass, pressed against it opposite my face, and made several feeble crawling motions before becoming still.

Meanwhile, almost giddy with anticipation and precursive spasms of sensation, Melody clung on to the phone and to the wall beside her for support.

I believe your brachio radial and pronator muscles are in spasm, and they have contracted so tightly they are now wider than the gap between the bars.

The grims were forming up to ride again, leaving the protestors in a spasm of joyful destruction, uprooting benches and starting to smash in the front doors of New Mound House.

Grinspoon told him the defendant was one of thousands of people who claim that marijuana is the best thing they can find for controlling the kind of painful spasms associated with quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, and traumatic nerve injury.

And Colonel Starbottle knew this, as, perspiring, florid, and panting, he rebuttoned the lower buttons of his blue frock-coat, which had become loosed in an oratorical spasm, and readjusted his old-fashioned, spotless shirt frill above it as he strutted from the court-room amidst the handshakings and acclamations of his friends.

Before they collided the conveyor driver saw the Bethlehem in his rear mirror and retroversed the tracks, the great steel cleats stabbing through the surface of the roadway, locking in a sudden spasm.

The fish flopped onto a plank, its scaleless pewter body jerking in spasms.

Sprowle raised herself, by a sort of spasm, sur son seant, as they say in France,--up on end, as we have it in New England.

Or, as Shastri had called it, a spasm, for completed cycles were always accompanied by a multitude of unvectorable changes.