Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Impulse

Im′pulse, n. [L. impulsus, fr. impellere. See Impel.]

1. The act of impelling, or driving onward with sudden force; impulsion; especially, force so communicated as to produced motion suddenly, or immediately.

All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse. S. Clarke.

2. The effect of an impelling force; motion produced by a sudden or momentary force.

3. (Mech.) The action of a force during a very small interval of time; the effect of such action; as, the impulse of a sudden blow upon a hard elastic body.

4. A mental force which simply and directly urges to action; hasty inclination; sudden motive; momentary or transient influence of appetite or passion; propension; incitement; as, a man of good impulses; passion often gives a violent impulse to the will.

These were my natural impulses for the undertaking. Dryden.

Syn. — Force; incentive; influence; motive; feeling; incitement; instigation.

Im·pulse′ (ĭm·pŭls′), v. t. [See Impel.] To impel; to incite. [Obs.] Pope.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.