Word.ws English Dictionary

death-stiffness

death-stiffness noun: temporary stiffness of the body's muscles and joints following death; rigor mortis.

Noun

death-stiffness (uncountable)

  1. Temporary stiffness of the body's muscles and joints following death; rigor mortis.
    • If the muscles of cold-blooded animals are heated to a temperature of 40° C, the " warmth-rigidity" (Wärmestarre), a condition very similar to death-stiffness, is superinduced. The cause of the death-stiffness and warmth-stiffness, is in the fact that certain fluid ingredients [...]1869, The Student, and Intellectual Observer, volume 2, page 146
    • Before death stiffness occurs in the hind parts, generally in one hip or leg; the head and ears droop, and dullness and stupor are observed.1878, United States. Dept. of Agriculture, Report - Page 517

Forms of death-stiffness

alternative formdeath stiffness

Origin of death-stiffness

From death + stiffness.

Questions about death-stiffness

What does death-stiffness mean?
Death-stiffness means temporary stiffness of the body's muscles and joints following death; rigor mortis.
What part of speech is death-stiffness?
Death-stiffness is a noun.

Words near death-stiffness in the dictionary

  1. death-rays
  2. death-sough
  3. death-spiral
  4. death-spirals
  5. death-stare
  6. death-stiffness
  7. death-struggle
  8. death-struggles
  9. death-wail
  10. death-wails
  11. death-watch beetle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: death-stiffness (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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