tetanus

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
tetanus/ˈtetənəs/

▶noun

• 1 a bacterial disease causing rigidity and spasms of the voluntary muscles.

• 2 Physiology the prolonged contraction of a muscle caused by rapidly repeated stimuli.

– derivatives
tetanize (or tetanise) verb,
tetanoid adjective.

– origin ME: from L., from Gk tetanos ‘muscular spasm’, from teinein ‘to stretch’.