Part 356

Rig"or (?), 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.

The rest his look Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move.

Milton.

2. (Med.) See 1st Rigor, 2.

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

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

All his rigor is turned to grief and pity.

Denham.

If I shall be condemn'd Upon surmises, . . . I tell you 'T is rigor and not law.

Shak.

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.

6. Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain, abstinence, or mortification.

The prince lived in this convent with all the rigor and austerity of a capuchin.

Addison.

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

Whose raging rigor neither steel nor brass could stay.

Spenser.

Syn. -- Stiffness; rigidness; inflexibility; severity; austerity; sternness; harshness; strictness; exactness.

Rig"or*ism (?), n. 1. Rigidity in principle or practice; strictness; -- opposed to laxity.

2. Severity, as of style, or the like. Jefferson.

Rig"or*ist, n. [Cf. F. rigoriste.] One who is rigorous; -- sometimes applied to an extreme Jansenist.

Rig"or*ous (?), a. [F. rigoureux, LL. rigorosus. See Rigor.] 1. Manifesting, exercising, or favoring rigor; allowing no abatement or mitigation; scrupulously accurate; exact; strict; severe; relentless; as, a rigorous officer of justice; a rigorous execution of law; a rigorous definition or demonstration.

He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian Rock With rigorous hands.

Shak.

We do not connect the scattered phenomena into their rigorous unity.

De Quincey.

2. Severe; intense; inclement; as, a rigorous winter.

3. Violent. [Obs.] "Rigorous uproar." Spenser.