\Ri"gor\, n. [L. See {Rigor}., below.]
1. Rigidity; stiffness.
2. (ed.) A sense of chilliness, with contraction of the skin;
   a convulsive shuddering or tremor, as in the chill
   preceding a fever.
{Rigor caloris}[L., rigor of heat] (Physiol.), a form of
   rigor mortis induced by heat, as when the muscle of a
   mammal is heated to about 50[deg]C.
{Rigor mortis}[L., rigor of death], death stiffening; the
   rigidity of the muscles that occurs at death and lasts
   till decomposition sets in. It is due to the formation of
   myosin by the coagulation of the contents of the
   individual muscle fibers.

\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.