| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
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rigor mortis rigor mor·tis (môr'tĭs)
n.
Muscular stiffening following death. Also called postmortem rigidity.
| rigor mortis (rĭg'ər môr'tĭs) Pronunciation Key
Muscular stiffening following death, resulting from the unavailability of energy needed to interrupt contraction of the muscle fibers. |
Stiffening of the muscles of the body that occurs after death. Rigor mortis is Latin for “stiffness of death.”
Note: Figuratively, rigor mortis refers to an absence of flexibility or vitality: “By the time the school finally closed, rigor mortis had set in in nearly every department.”