lockjaw

[lok-jaw]

noun

Pathology.

1. tetanus in which the jaws become firmly locked together; trismus.

lockjaw

/ ˈlɒkˌdʒɔː /

noun

1. pathol a nontechnical name for trismus tetanus

Word History and Origins

Origin of lockjaw¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; lock ¹ + jaw ¹

Example Sentences

He was arrested in the early hours of 9 April in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for "lockjaw".

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If someone tells you “I don’t like eating MSG because I get headaches” or “I get lockjaw” or whatever symptoms they have, then don’t say they are racist or imagining it.

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Stewart knew that taking on “Spencer” would be a challenge, and in the days leading up to the shoot, she even developed lockjaw as she ceaselessly practiced her British accent.

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His voice was nasal, garrulous, W. C. Fields with a bad case of Long Island lockjaw.

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“You want lockjaw or typhoid or a combination?”

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