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▪ I. spasm, n.|ˈspæz(ə)m|
Also 5–7 spasme.
[a. OF. spasme (F. spasme, = Prov. espasme, Sp. and Pg. espasmo, It. spasmo, spasimo), or ad. L. spasmus masc., spasma neut., a. Gr. σπασµός, σπάσµα, f. σπᾶν to draw, tug, etc. Cf. spasma and spasmus.]
1. Sudden and violent muscular contraction of a convulsive or painful character.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 160 Þanne it is greet drede of þe spasme & aftirward of deeþ,..þe akynge arisiþ vp to þe brayn, & þanne comeþ spasme. 1601Holland Pliny II. 41 It cureth those who have their necks drawne backward to their shoulders with the Spasme. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 481 All maladies Of gastly Spasm, or racking torture. 1670Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.) 140 He had very oft (almost every minute) a strange kind of spasme in the muscles of his breast. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., The spasm is a much less dangerous complaint than the convulsion. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 49 The first species of spasm in the stomach originates from extreme debility..and atony in that organ. 1845Budd Dis. Liver 382 Spasm of the gall-ducts is..something more than a mere hypothesis. 1876J. S. Bristowe Th. & Pract. Med. (1878) 479 Spasm of the larynx and trachea... Spasm is chiefly known as causing contraction of the rima glottidis.
2. With a and pl. An instance of this; a convulsive twitch or throe.
c1477Caxton Jason 76 b, She fyll on the erthe al in a spasme and a swoune. 1543Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. iii. 90 b/1 For the prohibition of a spasme ye shal rubbe often the nuke or marye of the backebone. 1601Holland Pliny Expl. Wds. Art, Spasmes, be painefull crampes or pluckings of the sinewes and cords of the Muscles. 1652Culpepper Eng. Physic. 79 Such persons as have their bodies drawn together by some Spasme or Convulsion. 1681tr. Willis's Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Spasms, cramps or convulsions of the nerves. 1718Quincy Compl. Disp. 112 Such Parts likewise draw the Fibres into Spasms, and keep them too tense. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iv. xxi, Water is found, when not cold, to be a great resolver of spasms. 1804Abernethy Surg. Obs. 178 He came again to the hospital complaining of spasms in his left arm. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. iii, Newman's face was curiously twisted as by a spasm. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn iv, The swollen form of the Emperor heaved with the spasm of a last struggle.
3. fig. Any sudden or convulsive movement of a violent character; a convulsion:
a. Of natural agencies or forces.
1817Shelley Rev. Islam ix. v, As with an earthquake's spasm. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Power Wks. (Bohn) II. 334 Red republicanism, in the father, is a spasm of nature to engender an intolerable tyrant in the next age. 1909Contemp. Rev. Feb. 156 Here is a problem more terrible than any spasm of nature.
b. Of feeling, emotion, etc.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. v. ii, In utmost preternatural spasm of madness. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Power Wks. (Bohn) II. 340 So in human action, against the spasm of energy we offset the continuity of drill. 1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. x. 200 A mere spasm of suspicious jealousy. 1880Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 294 He caused her a spasm of anguish.
c. Of political excitement, etc.
1862Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. ix. (1872) II. 219 War in Italy, universal spasm of wrestle there. 1879Froude Cæsar xxvi. 437 The fears which the final spasm of rebellion had again provoked. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn lxvi, As for the succeeding Emperors, the spasm of their brief elevation was marked by universal horrors.
4. Special Combs., as spasm band U.S. (now Hist.), a group, freq. of children, playing jazz on home-made musical instruments; spasm music U.S. (now Hist.), music played by spasm bands; spasm war, a war in which the combatants use their complete thermo-nuclear capabilities.
1926Whiteman & McBride Jazz xiii. 267 When the last fearful note died, he turned to the leader. ‘Stale Bread,’ said he [sc. a judge], ‘you may be a band, but you're a *spasm band. Discharged.’ The name stuck and the spasm band went on playing. 1943I. Lang Background of Blues 4 Then there were the spasm bands... The saloons and sidewalks where spasm music and street singers found their most generous audiences were those of the French Quarter and particularly those in Storyville. 1964Hall & Whannel Pop. Arts x. 297 In the early decades of the century the ‘spasm bands’ played a kind of home-made jazz on improvised instruments.
1943*Spasm music [see spasm band above].
1965H. Kahn On Escalation i. 14 But we need alternatives other than all⁓out *spasm war or peace at any price. 1967M. H. Halperin Contemp. Mil. Strategy (1968) ii. 15 The assumption that a general nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union would be an all-out, or ‘spasm’ war.
▪ II. spasm, v.|ˈspæz(ə)m|
[f. the n.]
a. intr. To twitch convulsively; to suffer a spasm.
b. trans. To cause to move convulsively. rare.
1900W. D. Howells Lit. Friends & Acquaintances viii. 269 Of a person who had a nervous twitching of the face..he [sc. Henry James Sr.] said ‘He spasmed to the fellow across the room and introduced him.’ 1958‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs xii. 142 Frank's gun fell from his spasming fingers. 1962J. D. MacDonald Key to Suite (1968) ix. 152 He spasmed his body inward, dropped the few remaining inches and landed on the railing. 1970J. Hansen Fadeout ix. 74 The boy's fine head did its slow, neck⁓straining roll while the unexpectedly deep voice spasmed and his mouth labored. 1978J. Irving World according to Garp xv. 304 The prostrate pig..squealed, its short legs spasmed. |