Rigour

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Rigor \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.
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              The rest his look
              Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move. --Milton.
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     2. (Med.) See 1st {Rigor}, 2.
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     3. Severity of climate or season; inclemency; as, the rigor
        of the storm; the rigors of winter.
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     4. Stiffness of opinion or temper; rugged sternness;
        hardness; relentless severity; hard-heartedness; cruelty.
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              All his rigor is turned to grief and pity. --Denham.
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              If I shall be condemn'd
              Upon surmises, . . . I tell you
              'T is rigor and not law.              --Shak.
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     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}.
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     6. Severity of life; austerity; voluntary submission to pain,
        abstinence, or mortification.
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              The prince lived in this convent with all the rigor
              and austerity of a capuchin.          --Addison.
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     7. Violence; force; fury. [Obs.]
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              Whose raging rigor neither steel nor brass could
              stay.                                 --Spenser.
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     Syn: Stiffness; rigidness; inflexibility; severity;
          austerity; sternness; harshness; strictness; exactness.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  rigour
       n 1: the quality of being logically valid [syn: {cogency}, {validity},
             {rigor}]
       2: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters"
          [syn: {asperity}, {grimness}, {hardship}, {rigor}, {severity},
           {rigorousness}]
       3: excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness
          of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp"
          [syn: {severity}, {harshness}, {rigor}, {inclemency}, {hardness},
           {stiffness}]