Tetanus \Tet"a*nus\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? stretched, ? to stretch.]

1. (Med.) A painful and usually fatal disease, resulting generally from a wound, and having as its principal symptom persistent spasm of the voluntary muscles. When the muscles of the lower jaw are affected, it is called locked-jaw, or lickjaw, and it takes various names from the various incurvations of the body resulting from the spasm.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)