Definition of "paroxysm"

[I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs.

1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section XI. A Tale of a Tub.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], pages 203–204

If prevented by force, the screams she sometimes uttered in her paroxysms of rage were fearful, and must inevitably be heard.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], page 70

Unable to turn his back on the fanged danger and go on, the bull would be driven into paroxysms of rage.

1903 July, Jack London, “The Sounding of the Call”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., page 212

The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

There, on the soft sand, a few feet away from our elders, we would sprawl all morning, in a petrified paroxysm of desire, and take advantage of every blessed quirk in space and time to touch each other: […]

1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, part 1, page 14

He was capable of mighty paroxysms of righteous indignation, and he was indignant as could be when he learned that a C.I.D. man was in the area looking for him.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “McWatt”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, page 61

Indeed in his excitement at this breakthrough he inadvertently dug his nails into the nurse's bottom, a gesture she misinterpreted, so that he had to suffer a paroxysm of breasts and loins in response.

1983, John Fowles, Mantissa

The Russian soldier left a trail of blood and devastated lives in a last paroxysm of violence only hours before Russian troops began withdrawing.

2022 December 31, Carlotta Gall, Oleksandr Chubko, “In Bucha, a Final Rampage Served as a Coda to a Month of Atrocities”, in The New York Times‎