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, or on the flank of a column, of soldiers, to rectify mistakes and insure steadiness and promptness in the ranks.

the antecedent cause or occasion of an action; the motive or inducement accompanying and prompting to an act or state; the reason of anything; that on account of which a thing is or is done. With fiery eyes sparkling for very wrath. Shak. How to choose dogs for scent or speed. Waller. Now, for so many glorious actions…

twisted into a standard. Knight. -- To take time, or occasion, by the forelock, to make prompt use of anything; not to let slip an opportunity. Time is painted with a lock before and bald behind, signifying thereby that we must take time by the forelock; for when it is once past, there is no recalling it. Swift. On o…

Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill sense, overready; to hasty. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. Gal. ii. 10. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded. Shak.

The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season.

ity that the old customers will resort to the old place. Lord Eldon. -- In good time. (a) Promptly; punctually; opportunely; not too soon nor too late. (b) (Mus.) Correctly; in proper time. -- To hold good, to remain true or valid; to be operative; to remain in force or effect; as, his promise holds good; the conditio…

lly fitted for broiling food, esp. one in a restaurant, hotel, or clubhouse, arranged for prompt service.

To take or hold (one's self); to proceed promptly; -- used reflexively, often with ellipsis of the pronoun; as, to have after one; to have at one or at a thing, i. e., to aim at one or at a thing; to attack; to have with a companion. Shak.

Not prompt in deciding or acting; hesitating.

Without interval of time; without delay; promptly; instantly; at once. And Jesus . . . touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matt. viii. 3.

Prompted by, or exhibiting, impatience; as, impatient speeches or replies. Shak.

Unpremeditated; impromptu; extempore. [R.]

That which is improvised; an impromptu.

motive or influence; impulse. "The impulsion of conscience." Clarendon. "Divine impulsion prompting." Milton.

; that which incites, or has a tendency to incite, to determination or action; that 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…

That which incites to action; that which rouses or prompts; incitement; motive; incentive. The noblest incitation to honest attempts. Tatler.

To compose; to write; to be author of; to dictate; to prompt. My heart is inditing a good matter. Ps. xlv. 1. Could a common grief have indited such expressions South. Hear how learned Greece her useful rules indites. Pope.

Natural inward impulse; unconscious, involuntary, or unreasoning prompting to any mode of action, whether bodily, or mental, without a distinct apprehension of the end or object to be accomplished. An instinct is a propensity prior to experience, and independent of instructions. Paley. An instinct is a blind tendency t…

Of or pertaining to instinct; derived from, or prompted by, instinct; of the nature of instinct; determined by natural impulse or propensity; acting or produced without reasoning, deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous. "Instinctive motion." Milton. "Instinctive dread." Cowper. With taste instinctive giv…

The quality of being instinctive, or prompted by instinct. [R.] Coleridge.