heart attack

English

Noun

heart attack (plural heart attacks)

  1. (cardiology) An acute myocardial infarction, sometimes fatal, caused by the sudden occurrence of coronary thrombosis, which obstructs the blood supply to the heart and leads to necrosis of heart muscle tissue.
    Synonym: myocardial infarction
    • 2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC‎:
      Before kick-off, a section of Chelsea's support sadly let themselves and their club down by noisily interrupting the silence held in memory of the Hillsborough disaster and for Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini, who collapsed and died after suffering a heart attack during a Serie B game on Saturday.
  2. (figurative) A major fright.
    She'll have a heart attack when she sees that!
  3. (figurative) Death or failure.
    My computer had a heart attack when I tried to get it to run that program.

Derived terms
  • heart attack on a plate

Descendants
  • → Finnish: haartätäkki

Translations
death — see death
failure — see failure

See also

Further reading
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