Webster's English Dictionary

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hysteria

hys.te.ria or hys.ter.i.cal \his-'ter-e--*, -'tir-\ \-'ter-ik\ 
   \-'ter-i-k*l\ \-i-k(*-)le-\ n [NL, fr. E hysteric, adj., fr. L hystericus 
   of the womb, fr. Gk ]hysterikos, fr. hystera womb; fr. the former notion 
   that hysteric women were suffering from disturbances of the womb 1: a 
   psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of th e 
   psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions 2: unmanageable fear or 
   emotional excess  - hys.ter.ic n