rigor

rigor is a Noun

Definition:

[1] Rigidity; stiffness.

[2] A sense of chilliness, with contraction of the skin; a convulsive shuddering or tremor, as in the chill preceeding a fever. Rigor caloris ( Etym: [L., rigor of heat] (Physiol.), a form of rigor mortis induced by heat, as when the muscle of a mammal is heated to about 50ºC. -- Rigor mortis ( Etym: [L. , rigor of death] , death stiffening; the rigidity of the muscles that occurs at death and lasts till decomposition sets in. It is due to the formation of myosin by the coagulation of the contents of the individual muscle fibers.