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rigour

[rig-er]
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noun Chiefly British.
  1. rigor.
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rigor

[rig-er]
noun
  1. strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people.
  2. the full or extreme severity of laws, rules, etc.
  3. severity of living conditions; hardship; austerity: the rigor of wartime existence.
  4. a severe or harsh act, circumstance, etc.
  5. scrupulous or inflexible accuracy or adherence: the logical rigor of mathematics.
  6. severity of weather or climate or an instance of this: the rigors of winter.
  7. Pathology. a sudden coldness, as that preceding certain fevers; chill.
  8. Physiology. a state of rigidity in muscle tissues during which they are unable to respond to stimuli due to the coagulation of muscle protein.
  9. Obsolete. stiffness or rigidity.
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Also especially British, rig·our.

Origin of rigor

1350–1400; Middle English rigour < Latin rigor stiffness, equivalent to rig(ēre) to be stiff + -or -or1

Synonyms

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1. inflexibility, stringency. 4. cruelty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rigour

Historical Examples

  • He threatens with all the rigour of the law those who dare to give his wife an asylum.

    De Libris: Prose and Verse

    Austin Dobson

  • But here was the man who, by every rigour of conventional life, had a right to her.

    The Prisoner

    Alice Brown

  • With November winter fell upon the land in all its sub-Arctic rigour.

    The Gaunt Gray Wolf

    Dillon Wallace

  • He was penetrated by it, absorbed by it; he was rooted in it with a rigour of dumb attention.

    Typhoon

    Joseph Conrad

  • It was a snowy and sleety April morning, and she had already had experience of its rigour. '

    A Great Man

    Arnold Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for rigour

rigour

US rigor

noun
  1. harsh but just treatment or action
  2. a severe or cruel circumstance; hardshipthe rigours of famine
  3. strictness, harshness, or severity of character
  4. strictness in judgment or conduct; rigorism
  5. maths logic logical validity or accuracy
  6. obsolete rigidity
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Word Origin

C14: from Latin rigor

rigor

noun
  1. med a sudden feeling of chilliness, often accompanied by shivering: it sometimes precedes a fever
  2. (ˈrɪɡə) pathol rigidity of a muscle; muscular cramp
  3. a state of rigidity assumed by some animals in reaction to sudden shock
  4. the inertia assumed by some plants in conditions unfavourable to growth
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Word Origin

see rigour
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rigour

n.

chiefly British English spelling of rigor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.

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rigor

n.

late 14c., from Old French rigor "strength, hardness" (13c., Modern French rigueur), from Latin rigorem (nominative rigor) "numbness, stiffness, hardness, firmness; roughness, rudeness," from rigere "be stiff" (see rigid).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
rigour in Medicine

rigor

(rĭg′ər)
n.
  1. rigidity
  2. Shivering or trembling, as caused by a chill.
  3. A state of rigidity in living tissues or organs that prevents response to stimuli.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.