rigor1
/
ˈrɪgɔː,
ˈrʌɪgɔː,
-gə/
n.
Medicine - a sudden feeling of cold accompanied by shivering and a rise in temperature, especially at the onset or height of a fever.
- short for rigor mortis.
Etymology
ME: from L., lit. ‘stiffness’, from rigere ‘be stiff’.