What is "spasmodic"

Usage examples of "spasmodic".

Coughing and sneezing are sudden and spasmodic expiratory efforts, and generally involuntary.

Bunty was still giving vent to spasmodic boos and hoos, Judy was whistling stormily, and the General, mulcted of the scissors, was licking his own muddy shoe all over with his dear little red tongue.

As the sun rose and the light of a new day swept away the darkness of night our craft gave a final spasmodic plunge, turned half upon her side, and then with deck tilting at a sickening angle swung in a slow circle, her bow dropping further below her stern each moment.

Their torpidity, under the influence of sunshine and Mother Council, had given way to a sort of spasmodic cheerfulness, as insects in winter revive when laid on the hearth.

Prior to the development of the spasmodic affection, there is usually a period in which the sufferer notes a want of appetite, languidness, with disinclination towards mental or bodily pursuits, headache, restlessness, pains in the limbs and joints, with irritable temper and weakness of memory.

In spite of his spasmodic rages he did not look to be a bully, having one of the roundest and mildest of faces, with a small snub nose and eyes that, although they rolled whitely in their black disguise, could not deny their essential amiability.

Those who had fallen were apparently undergoing some kind of seizures, that produced spasmodic movements of the torso, actions of the limbs, and contortions of the facial features.

Maia hardly paid attention to the libretto, however, which followed a hackneyed theme about the ancient struggle between womanly pragmatism and the spasmodic, dangerous enthusiasms of old-fashioned males.

The whole city echoed with the endless warbling of police and fire sirens, and the crack of spasmodic shooting.

This disorder belongs to the class of diseases known as local spasms, of which other varieties exist in such affections as spasmodic asthma and colic.

But some of these vapours also act as stimulants, exciting rapid, almost spasmodic movements in the tentacles.

A couched spear of acuminated granite rested by him while at his feet reposed a savage animal of the canine tribe whose stertorous gasps announced that he was sunk in uneasy slumber, a supposition confirmed by hoarse growls and spasmodic movements which his master repressed from time to time by tranquilising blows of a mighty cudgel rudely fashioned out of paleolithic stone.

The horses plunge and prance with fear, and my companion falls in spasmodic convulsions.

These small insects drank my blood with unutterable voracity, their incessant bites gave me spasmodic convulsions and poisoned my blood.

The reasonable desire of all of us is that we should have the collective affairs of the world managed by suitably equipped groups of the most interested, intelligent, and devoted people, and that their activities should be subjected to a free, open, watchful criticism, restrained from making spasmodic interruptions but powerful enough to modify or supersede without haste or delay whatever is weakening or unsatisfactory in the general direction.