Pronunciation: kat-a-pleex'-is
Alternate Spelling: Gk. "a striking down, terrifying menace"
Threatening or prophesying payback for ill doing.
In the following quote from The Tempest, Caliban's curse is rewarded with a threatening prophecy, or cataplexis, from Prospero: Caliban: As wicked-dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! A south-west blow on ye, And blister you all o'er! Prospero: For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches, that shall pen thy breath up; urchins Shall, for that vast of night that they may work, All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch'd As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em.