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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.

nflict the penalty of death on a criminal. What heart could wish, what hand inflict, this dire disgrace Drygen. The persecution and the pain That man inflicts on infero-ior kinds. Cowper.

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.