Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tetanus \Tet"a*nus\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? stretched, ? to
   stretch.]
   1. (Med.) A painful and usually fatal disease, resulting
      generally from a wound, and having as its principal
      symptom persistent spasm of the voluntary muscles. When
      the muscles of the lower jaw are affected, it is called
      {locked-jaw}, or {lickjaw}, and it takes various names
      from the various incurvations of the body resulting from
      the spasm.