rigor

n. [ OE. rigour, OF. rigour, F. rigueur, from L. rigor, fr. rigere to be stiff. See Rigid. ] [ Written also rigour. ] 1. The becoming stiff or rigid; the state of being rigid; rigidity; stiffness; hardness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The rest his look
Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) See 1st Rigor, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Severity of climate or season; inclemency; as, the rigor of the storm; the rigors of winter. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Stiffness of opinion or temper; rugged sternness; hardness; relentless severity; hard-heartedness; cruelty. [ 1913 Webster ]

All his rigor is turned to grief and pity. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

If I shall be condemn'd
Upon surmises, . . . I tell you
'T is rigor and not law. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Exactness without allowance, deviation, or indulgence; strictness; as, the rigor of criticism; to execute a law with rigor; to enforce moral duties with rigor; -- opposed to lenity. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain, abstinence, or mortification. [ 1913 Webster ]

The prince lived in this convent with all the rigor and austerity of a capuchin. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Violence; force; fury. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose raging rigor neither steel nor brass could stay. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Stiffness; rigidness; inflexibility; severity; austerity; sternness; harshness; strictness; exactness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. rigorisme. ] 1. Rigidity in principle or practice; strictness; -- opposed to laxity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Severity, as of style, or the like. Jefferson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Ethics) Strictness in ethical principles; -- usually applied to ascetic ethics, and opposed to ethical latitudinarianism. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Cf. F. rigoriste. ] One who is rigorous; -- sometimes applied to an extreme Jansenist. [ 1913 Webster ]