CONVULSION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Convulsion

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/kənvˈəlʃən/ Listen

noun

Convulsion n.

(Med.) An unnatural, violent, and unvoluntary contraction of the muscular parts of an animal body.

Any violent and irregular motion or agitation; a violent shaking; a tumult; a commotion. "Those two massy pillars, With horrible convulsion, to and fro He tugged, he shook, till down they came." "Times of violence and convulsion."

Synonyms: Agitation; commotion; tumult; disturbance.

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Etymology of 'Convulsion'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Convulsion" Quotes from Famous Books

... the war which destroyed slavery the two races emerged together into the midst of vast changes. The old social structure had been disrupted in the civil convulsion, and the old political order likewise. The slave half of the national house had tumbled about former masters and slaves. The slave race possessed no more and knew no more as freedmen than they had possessed or known as slaves. Yes, ...

— The Ultimate Criminal - The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 17 • Archibald H. Grimke

... conscious that the problems of war are not the last and most important to be solved in our national affairs. It is clear enough that this great convulsion must end; and end, too, in the total extinction of that stupendous system of iniquity in the interests of which it was projected. President Lincoln's Proclamation of emancipation throughout rebeldom, and the recent order to enlist the slaves throughout the Border States in military service ...

— Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 • Various

... to this, his attention being taken up by the fact that, though there was perfect silence, the tree was alive with birds and monkeys, which were huddled together in groups, as if their instinct had taught them that a terrible convulsion of nature was at hand. As a rule they would have taken flight or scampered about through the branches as soon as human beings had come to the tree, but now, as if aware of some great danger, they were content to share the shelter and ...

— Rob Harlow's Adventures - A Story of the Grand Chaco • George Manville Fenn

... been fascinated, held by the swift interchange between her friend and enemy. But now she had a convulsion of fear. She had seen men fight, but never to the death. Roberts crouched like a wolf at bay. There was a madness upon him. He shook like a rippling leaf. Suddenly ...

— The Border Legion • Zane Grey

... sexual muscular process of detumescence in women—as distinguished from the general muscular phenomena of sexual excitement which may be fairly obvious—is thus seen to be somewhat complex and obscure, in women as well as in men detumescence is a convulsion which discharges a slowly accumulated store of nervous force. In women also, as in men, the motor discharge is directed to a specific end—the intromission of the semen in the one sex, its reception in the other. In both sexes the sexual orgasm and the pleasure and satisfaction ...

— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

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