paralytic meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

paralytic

noun

/ˌpæɹəˈlɪtɪk/

Etymology Borrowed from French paralytique, from Latin paralyticus, from Ancient Greek παραλυτικός (paralutikós, “paralyzed”).

Someone suffering from paralysis.

Quoth I to myself, "Haply this Shaykh is of those who were wrecked in the ship and hath made his way to this island." So I drew near to him and saluted him, and he returned my salam by signs, but spoke not; and I said to him, "O nuncle mine, what causeth thee to sit here?" He shook his head and moaned and signed to me with his hand as who should say, "Take me on thy shoulders and carry me to the other side of the well-channel." And quoth I in my mind, "I will deal kindly with him and do what he desireth; it may be I shall win me a reward in Heaven for he may be a paralytic."1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

A drug that produces paralysis.

For example, use of paralytics in morbidly obese patients or those with spinal instability can precipitate complete upper airway obstruction.2010, John J. Marini, Critical Care Medicine: The Essentials, page 312:

adj

Etymology Borrowed from French paralytique, from Latin paralyticus, from Ancient Greek παραλυτικός (paralutikós, “paralyzed”).

Affected by paralysis; paralysed.

the cold, shaking, paralytic hand1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

Pertaining to paralysis.

Are the para-olympics the events in which the olympians, having finished their events in the normal olympics, go out and get pissed and then compete again? ie: the para-olympics become the paralytic olympics.1996 August 18, Ben McCulloch, “Para-olympics”, in aus.jokes (Usenet):
I'm amazed I survived so much drunken driving. Once he was so paralytic he even made me drive, and I was about 14 and barely able to see above the steering wheel. At least it was an automatic.1999 January 3, David McLoughlin, “Gundagai - Last Use Of Line?”, in aus.rail (Usenet):

2 more examples

He hasn't even been openly accused of anything bar drinking himself paralytic at a time that, in hindsight, was inconvenient.2001 May 24, Peter Ryan, “ablett no from hall of fame”, in aus.sport.aussie-rules (Usenet):
On returning to his friends at the bar he remarked " there's a fellow in the jaxx and he's just paralytic. He must be heading for the boat and didn't quite make it."2002 April 16, C e r b e r u s - T h e D o g O f H e l l, “On the Isle of Man.”, in free.jokes (Usenet):

Synonyms: frozen, immobilized, drunk
Derived terms: antiparalytic, hemiparalytic, neuroparalytic, nonparalytic, paralytic abasia, paralytical, paralytically, paralytic dementia, parro, postparalytic, preparalytic, vasoparalytic