Apoplexy

This is and outdated term for a stroke. It was used to refer to someone dying spontaneously, usually due to some internal bleeding, often cerebral.

As an adjective, to be “apoplectic,” is to be angry to the (figurative) verge of having a stroke.

I don’t think anyone was every literally apoplectic. Either you had a stroke and died of apoplexy, or you didn’t. Back when this term was used, it’s unlikely many people survived strokes that were significant enough to notice in the moment they were occurring.

However, “fits of apoplexy” is a common phrase, which could mean having a stroke (past tense) which doesn’t lead to your death, but incapacitates you in some way. Perhaps a Transient Ischemic Attack, which can lead to short periods of “blanking out.”

Why I Looked It Up

It came up in The Medici, and I realized I had heard the term many times but didn’t quite know what it meant, other than sudden death.