rigor mortis
10
8.4
- noun
- /ˈrɪɡər ˈmɔrtɪs/
- Specialized
:
rigidez cadavérica
- Although Hubertin does not die until days after the accident, Vallotton's drawing shows him lying rigid, as if already stiff with rigor mortis.
I know this due to the rigor mortis setting in when I tried to give my dog CPR.
- I know this due to the rigor mortis setting in when I tried to give my dog CPR.
- And at one point, about four in the morning, I think it was when I went to feel her, I could feel the body had rigor mortis had set in.
- Checked the next day and it was just rigor mortis in his little like Burrow.
- Was it alga, alga, alga mortis, liver mortis and rigor mortis?
- Position the corpses before they had rigor mortis and they were still quite flexible in sexual positions and then take photos.
Examples
-
The dog is stiff with rigor mortis, obviously dead long before the crash.
Fiction book (1996) -
You know, it looks like rigor mortis is setting in.
-
The next thing you know, rigor mortis sets in.
-
The baby was already in rigor mortis.
-
Well, the corpse was deep in rigor mortis.
-
The second most common assessment in the recently deceased is the presence of rigor mortis.
Blog text (1) -
The two women left, and the funeral man agreed it was a good idea to dress the cadaver, since rigor mortis sets in relatively fast.
Fiction book (1995) -
No embalmer, however talented, could eliminate the problem of rigor mortis in bodies.
Academic text (1996) -
He tries opening a desk drawer, but Orona's rigor mortis-stiffened knee is in the way.
Fiction book (1995) -
After death, the body became rigid due to rigor mortis, making it hard to move.
Surface Forms
Morphology
rigor + mortis
This is a Latin medical term whose constituents ('rigor', 'mortis') are not recognisable English words to a B1 learner, so the meaning 'postmortem stiffening' is not transparently derivable from the parts. Only learners with knowledge of Latin or medical roots could decode it, making it unpredictable for the average B1 learner.
Etymology
Rigor mortis comes from Latin: rigor means 'stiffness' and mortis means 'of death'. It describes how a body becomes stiff a few hours after death, so today it means the temporary stiffening of the muscles.