spasm

• The thought came like a spasm, and he harvested it before it disappeared. —  SON OF A WITCH
• Sometimes "Abide" was ahead, and sometimes "Lord," but on the whole it was a pretty even thing Then the minister--he drew a salary, also--read something out of the Bible, after which--as they say in the newspapers--"there was another well-rendered selection by the choir This spasm was a tenor solo with chorus accompaniment. —  Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor Volume I
• I saw him expire with an anguish, unaccountable even to myself, the spasm was as the wrenching of some limb in agonizing torture, but it was brief as it was intolerable. —  The Last Man
• Very occasionally the spasm is actually fatal. —  The Nervous Child
• The very idea of her being taken first, roused in him a kind of spasm--a fierceness, a clenching of the hands. —  Marcella

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