1. A disease marked by painful tonic muscular contractions, caused by the neurotropic toxin (tetanospasmin) of Clostridium tetani acting on the central nervous system. Cf.: lockjaw, trismus
2. A sustained muscular contraction caused by a series of nerve stimuli repeated so rapidly that individual muscular responses are fused, producing a sustained tetanic contraction. See: emprosthotonos, opisthotonos
[L. fr. G. tetanos, convulsive tension]
