You searched for: “catalepsy”
catalepsy (s) (noun), catalepsies (pl)
1. A situation or condition that is usually associated with schizophrenia in which the muscles become rigid, and the arms and legs keep the positions in which they have been placed: Catalepsy is seen in psychotic patients during which there is a generalized and diminished responsiveness that is marked by a trancelike state.

Nurses and physicians have been warned that, although a patient is in a trance of catalepsy, he or she may still be able to hear and to understand their conversations; so, the medical staff's actions and talks about such a patient, in his or her presence, should be the same as if that person were fully conscious.
2. Etymology: from Greek catalepsis; from kata-, "down" + lepsis, "seizure"; a derivative of lambanein, "to seize".

A sudden seizure that causes a human or animal to be unable to move.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

This entry is located in the following units: cata-, cat-, cath-, kata- (page 3) -lepsy, -lepsia, -lepsis, -leptic (page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words: “catalepsy”
catalepsy, catalepsies
Physical conditions in which there are sudden muscular rigidness of people's arms and legs so they can't move. (1)
This entry is located in the following unit: Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words (page 21)