All 4 Uses of
lockjaw
in
Cold Sassy Tree
- It was six months after my best friend, Bluford Jackson, got firecrackers for Christmas and burned his hand on one and died of lockjaw ten days latter.
*lockjaw = a deadly bacterial infection that results in a spasm of the jaw muscles so that the jaw remains tightly closed
- And then I thought about my friend Bluford Jackson, the one who got lockjaw after firecrackers burned his hand last Christmas.
- Sir, do you think it was God's will for Bluford Jackson to get lockjaw and die?
- We were talking about it that morning we climbed up the water tower to throw down lighted firecrackers and scare people — the day Blu got the firecracker burn that gave him lockjaw.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(lockjaw) a bacterial infection typically contracted through a puncture wound with a dirty object; causes a spasm of the jaw muscles so that the jaw remains tightly closed; prevented by the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) vaccine and by subsequent booster shots every 10 years
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)