From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishspasm of grief/laughter/coughing etcspasm of grief/laughter/coughing etcMISTRONG FEELING OR BELIEFa sudden strong feeling or reaction that you have for a short period of time I felt a spasm of fear. → spasm
Examples from the Corpus
spasm of grief/laughter/coughing etc• A spasm of coughing woke him. 