1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paroxysm

PAROXYSM (Med. Lat. paroxysm, from the Gr. παροξύνειν, to make sharp, ὄξύς), a violent outbreak or display of emotion or feeling. The term is used of a fit of laughter, pain, anger or fear, and particularly an acute stage in a disease is the earliest sense of the word.