An archaic or rare form of apoplexy; a sudden loss of consciousness or paralysis.
From apoplexy shortened or used as an alternative form in older medical texts. This is an older variant that appeared in medieval and early modern medical writing.
In Shakespeare's time, doctors called sudden strokes 'apoplex' or 'apoplexy'—they didn't understand it was a blood vessel issue, so they blamed it on an imbalance of the four humors or thought someone had been literally 'struck down' by evil forces.
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