Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An abnormal condition characterized by periodic painful muscular spasms and tremors, caused by faulty calcium metabolism and associated with diminished function of the parathyroid glands.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A disease characterized by irregularly intermittent tonic spasms of various groups of muscles, more commonly those of the upper extremities, unaccompanied, as a rule, by fever.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) A morbid condition resembling tetanus, but distinguished from it by being less severe and having intermittent spasms.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun medicine A condition characterized by painful muscular spasms, caused by faulty calcium metabolism

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun clinical neurological syndrome characterized by muscular twitching and cramps and (when severe) seizures; associated with calcium deficiency (hypoparathyroidism) or vitamin D deficiency or alkalosis

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From tetanus.]

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Examples

  • Experiments on animals, which proved more sensitive to loss of the parathyroids than men were, showed that muscles tightened convulsively, a situation called tetany (tet'uh-nee; "stretch" G).

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • Hypocalcemic tetany as an early sign of DiGeorge syndrome in adult woman.

    Resources for Healthcare Professionals 2010

  • Last time we had a bird, a parakeet, it lived for five or six years and then had a stroke, began having a kind of rolling tetany.

    Archive 2010-06-01 Steve Perry 2010

  • Last time we had a bird, a parakeet, it lived for five or six years and then had a stroke, began having a kind of rolling tetany.

    Creatures of the Night Steve Perry 2010

  • You could actually feel the delicious muscle tetany spasming through Clegg's jaw as he fought to control the Coitus reservatus for after PMQs.

    Vote Clegg Get Brown Newmania 2008

  • Although tetany occurs in all muscles that are stimulated, flexor groups are usually stronger and predominate.

    July 18, 1871 Holly 2006

  • This glandular decline interferes with calcium metabolism and may produce the condition of hypocalcemic tetany.

    Meditation as Medicine M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2001

  • This glandular decline interferes with calcium metabolism and may produce the condition of hypocalcemic tetany.

    Meditation as Medicine M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2001

  • “I could not control it,” he said, “and my back and legs hurt; it was almost like tetany violent muscle spasms and convulsions.”

    Bitter Harvest Ann Rule 2000

  • The complications of tetany and hypoparathyrodism were not understood.

    Emil Theodor Kocher 1997

Comments

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  • Result of abnormal calcium metabolism

    July 29, 2009