Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Stimulate

Stim′u·late (·lāt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stimulated; p. pr. & vb. n. Stimulating.] [L. stimulatus, p. p. of stimulare to prick or goad on, to incite, fr. stimulus a goad. See Stimulus.] 1. To excite as if with a goad; to excite, rouse, or animate, to action or more vigorous exertion by some pungent motive or by persuasion; as, to stimulate one by the hope of reward, or by the prospect of glory.

To excite and stimulate us thereunto. Dr. J. Scott.

2. (Physiol.) To excite; to irritate; especially, to excite the activity of (a nerve or an irritable muscle), as by electricity.

Syn. — To animate; incite; encourage; impel; urge; instigate; irritate; exasperate; incense.

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.