As-phyx'i-a or As-phyx'y, n.

n. [Gr. ἀσφυξία, from ἀ priv. and σφύζειν, to throb, beat; σφύξις, throbbing pulse.] (Med.) Apparent death, or suspended animation, particularly from suffocation or drowning, or the inhalation of irrespirable gases;—recently applied also to the collapsed state in cholera, with want of pulse.