rigour
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English rigour, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French rigor, from Latin rigor (“stiffness, rigidity, rigor, cold, harshness”), from rigere (“to be rigid”). Compare French rigueur.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
rigour (countable and uncountable, plural rigours)
- Severity or strictness.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 1:13–14:
- And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
- Harshness, as of climate.
- A trembling or shivering response.
- Character of being unyielding or inflexible.
- Shrewd questioning.
- Higher level of difficulty. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (UK) Misspelling of rigor (“rigor mortis”).
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
severity or strictness
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harshness
trembling or shivering response
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character of being unyielding or inflexible
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shrewd questioning
higher level of difficulty
an abbreviated form of rigor mortis
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading edit
- “rigor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “rigour”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.