rigors

noun

1. strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people.
2. the full or extreme severity of laws, rules, etc.
3. severity of living conditions; hardship; austerity: the rigor of wartime existence.
4. a severe or harsh act, circumstance, etc.
5. scrupulous or inflexible accuracy or adherence: the logical rigor of mathematics.
6. severity of weather or climate or an instance of this: the rigors of winter.
7. Pathology. a sudden coldness, as that preceding certain fevers; chill.
8. Physiology. a state of rigidity in muscle tissues during which they are unable to respond to stimuli due to the coagulation of muscle protein.
9. Obsolete. stiffness or rigidity.

noun

1. med a sudden feeling of chilliness, often accompanied by shivering: it sometimes precedes a fever
2. (ˈrɪɡə) pathol rigidity of a muscle; muscular cramp
3. a state of rigidity assumed by some animals in reaction to sudden shock
4. the inertia assumed by some plants in conditions unfavourable to growth

n.

late 14c., from Old French rigor “strength, hardness” (13c., Modern French rigueur), from Latin rigorem (nominative rigor) “numbness, stiffness, hardness, firmness; roughness, rudeness,” from rigere “be stiff” (see rigid).

n.

1. rigidity
2. Shivering or trembling, as caused by a chill.
3. A state of rigidity in living tissues or organs that prevents response to stimuli.