Xyrospasm

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A spasm experienced whilst attempting to use a shaving razor. rare

    "I have seen in two cases a barbers’ cramp (keirospasm or xyrospasm) — i.e., a spastic contraction of the muscles of the hand and fingers, which came on in a barber at every attempt to use a razor."

Example

More examples

"I have seen in two cases a barbers’ cramp (keirospasm or xyrospasm) — i.e., a spastic contraction of the muscles of the hand and fingers, which came on in a barber at every attempt to use a razor."

Etymology

From xyro- (“razor”) + spasm.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.