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A property possessed by a moving body in virtue of its weight and its motion; the force with which any body is driven or impelled; momentum.

To be of importance or consequence to; to have a bearing on; to concern. I have a motion much imports your good. Shak. If I endure it, what imports it you Dryden.

The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc. I look upon your city as the best place of improvement. South. Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties. Blair.…

ing 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.

iving onward, or the state of being impelled; the sudden or momentary agency of a body in motion on another body; also, the impelling force, or impulse. "The impulsion of the air." Bacon.

To cause to begin, esp. with formality or solemn ceremony; hence, to set in motion, action, or progress; to initiate; -- used especially of something of dignity or worth or public concern; as, to inaugurate a new era of things, new methods, etc. As if kings did closes remarkable days to inaugurate their favors. Sir H.…

t which prompts to good or ill; motive; spur; as, the love of money, and the desire of promotion, are two powerful incentives to action. The greatest obstacles, the greatest terrors that come in their way, are so far from making them quit the work they had begun, that they rather prove incentives to them to go on in it…

Motion on foot; progress in walking. [Obs.] The incession or local motion of animals. Sir T. Browne.

Inciting to motion; -- applied to that action which, in the case of muscular motion, commences in the nerve centers, and excites the muscles to contraction. Opposed to excito-motor.

. Their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech. Judges ix. 3. Power finds its balance, giddy motions cease In both the scales, and each inclines to peace. Parnell.

; incomprehensible; as, it is inconceivable to us how the will acts in producing muscular motion. It is inconceivable to me that a spiritual substance should represent an extended figure. Locke. -- In`con*ceiv"a*ble*ness, n. -- In`con*ceiv"a*bly, adv. The inconceivableness of a quality existing without any subject to…

A burdensome and troublesome load; anything that impedes motion or action, or renders it difficult or laborious; clog; impediment; hindrance; check. Cowper.

the welfare of one's family. It was a law of Solon, that any person who, in the civil commotions of the republic, remained neuter, or an indifferent spectator of the contending parties, should be condemned to perpetual banishment. Addison.

Native; inherent; innate. Joy and hope are emotions indigenous to the human mind. I. Taylor.

ess; disparity; diversity; as, an inequality in size, stature, numbers, power, distances, motions, rank, property, etc. There is so great an inequality in the length of our legs and arms as makes it impossible for us to walk on all four. Ray. Notwithstanding which inequality of number, it was resolved in a council of w…

Destitute of the power of moving itself, or of active resistance to motion; as, matter is inert.

That property of matter by which it tends when at rest to remain so, and when in motion to continue in motion, and in the same straight line or direction, unless acted on by some external force; - - sometimes called vis inertiæ.

Want of activity or exertion; habitual indisposition to action or motion; sluggishness; apathy; insensibility. Glanvill. Laziness and inertness of mind. Burke.

To communicate to or affect with, as qualities or emotions, esp. bad qualities; to corrupt; to contaminate; to taint by the communication of anything noxious or pernicious. Cowper. Infected Ston's daughters with like heat. Milton.

Sympathetic communication of like qualities or emotions; influence. Through all her train the soft infection ran. Pope. Mankind are gay or serious by infection. Rambler.