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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.…

The direction in which a body, or a ray of light or heat, falls on any surface. In equal incidences there is a considerable inequality of refractions. Sir I. Newton. Angle of incidence, the angle which a ray of light, or the line of incidence of a body, falling on any surface, makes with a perpendicular to that surface…

A direction or tendency from the true vertical or horizontal direction; as, the inclination of a column, or of a road bed.

To deviate from a line, direction, or course, toward an object; to lean; to tend; as, converging lines incline toward each other; a road inclines to the north or south.

A French fop or dandy of the time of the Directory; hence, any fop.

nce; exemption from reliance on, or control by, others; self- subsistence or maintenance; direction of one's own affairs without interference. Let fortune do her worst, . . . as long as she never makes us lose our honesty and our independence. Pope.

Not subject to bias or influence; not obsequious; self-directing; as, a man of an independent mind.

Want of fixed or stated direction. Abp. Bramhall.

That which guides, points out, informs, or directs; a pointer or a hand that directs to anything, as the hand of a watch, a movable finger on a gauge, scale, or other graduated instrument. In printing, a sign [*] used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph; -- called also fist.

To point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known. That turns and turns to indicate From what point blows the weather. Cowper.

Any symptom or occurrence in a disease, which serves to direct to suitable remedies.

To write upon the back or outside of a paper or letter, as a direction, heading, memorandum, or address.

ody, having electrical or magnetic polarity, causes or induces it in another body without direct contact; an impress of electrical or magnetic force or condition from one body on another without actual contact. Electro-dynamic induction, the action by which a variable or interrupted current of electricity excites anoth…

rotor, these two members corresponding to a certain extent to the field and armature of a direct-current motor.

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.

To turn from a direct line or course; to bend; to incline, to deflect; to curve; to bow. Are they [the rays of the sun] not reflected, refracted, and inflected by one and the same principle Sir I. Newton.

A contrivance for forcing feed water into a steam boiler by the direct action of the steam upon the water. The water is driven into the boiler by the impulse of a jet of the steam which becomes condensed as soon as it strikes the stream of cold water it impels; - - also called Giffard's injector, from the inventor.…

The act of enjoining; the act of directing, commanding, or prohibiting.

or mysterious death. See Coroner. -- Inquest of office, an inquiry made, by authority or direction of proper officer, into matters affecting the rights and interests of the crown or of the state. Craig. Bouvier.

He conferred on it a kind of inquisitorial and censorious power even over the laity, and directed it to inquire into all matters of conscience. Hume.