rigor mortis

[ rig-er mawr-tis, or, especially British, rahy-gawr ]

noun

1. the stiffening of the body after death.

rigor mortis

/ ˈrɪɡə ˈmɔːtɪs /

noun

1. pathol the stiffness of joints and muscular rigidity of a dead body, caused by depletion of ATP in the tissues. It begins two to four hours after death and lasts up to about four days, after which the muscles and joints relax

rigor mortis

/ rĭg′ərmôr′tĭs /

1. Muscular stiffening following death, resulting from the unavailability of energy needed to interrupt contraction of the muscle fibers.

rigor mortis

1. Stiffening of the muscles of the body that occurs after death. Rigor mortis is Latin for “stiffness of death.”

Notes

Figuratively, rigor mortis refers to an absence of flexibility or vitality: “By the time the school finally closed, rigor mortis had set in in nearly every department.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of rigor mortis¹

1830–40; < Latin: literally, stiffness of death

Word History and Origins

Origin of rigor mortis¹

C19: Latin, literally: rigidity of death

Example Sentences

Another remembers having to flatten out a corpse in which rigor mortis had set in.

From New York Times

In an affidavit filed with a search warrant, Detective Andrew Patterson stated that when investigators arrived on Feb. 3, the boy was cold to the touch and his body was in rigor mortis.

From Seattle Times

These claims were amplified in an article by the Jerusalem Post, an influential Israeli newspaper, which showed an image of Muhammad in rigor mortis after his death and said it proved he was a doll.

From BBC

Mexico City investigators also found video from a Mexico City apartment building that showed a bearded, balding man lugging López’s body — her legs stiff with rigor mortis — through a hallway and then a garage.

From Los Angeles Times

The breath stops, the heart stops, the brain stops and rigor mortis soon appears.

From Salon