Search the Dictionary

ctions approppriate to the waking state; a state of sleep in which some of the senses and voluntary powers are partially awake; noctambulism.

A closing voluntary; a postlude.

soul, that is, the seat of life, the sensitive affections and phantasy, exclusive of the voluntary and rational powers; -- sometimes, in distinction from the mind, the moral and emotional part of man's nature, the seat of feeling, in distinction from intellect; -- sometimes, the intellect only; the understanding; the…

An involuntary and unnatural contraction of one or more muscles or muscular fibers.

Abnormally frequent involuntary emission of the semen without copulation.

The tendency to activity of muscular tissue, including the voluntary muscles, when in a state of healthful vigor and refreshment.

To make involuntary stops in uttering syllables or words; to hesitate or falter in speaking; to speak with stops and diffivulty; to stutter. I would thou couldst stammer, that thou mightest pour this conclead man out of thy mouth, as wine comes out of a narrow-mouthed bottle, either too much at once, or none at all. Sh…

s with a spring or leap, from surprise, pain, or other sudden feeling or emotion, or by a voluntary act. And maketh him out of his sleep to start. Chaucer. I start as from some dreadful dream. Dryden. Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside. I. Watts. But if he start, It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.…

such delight and ravishment, to be stigmatized and bored through in witness of their own voluntary and beloved baseness. Milton.

An habitual sudden twitching of the hinder leg of a horse, or an involuntary or convulsive contraction of the muscles that raise the hock. [Written also springhalt.]

tion of the body to the will is by natural necessity, the subjection of the will unto God voluntary, we stand in need of direction after what sort our wills and desires may be rightly conformed to His. Hooker.

The act of taking one's own life voluntary and intentionally; self-murder; specifically (Law), the felonious killing of one's self; the deliberate and intentional destruction of one's own life by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind.

of terminating, or of limiting or setting bounds; the act of ending or concluding; as, a voluntary termination of hostilities.

lting generally from a wound, and having as its principal symptom persistent spasm of the voluntary muscles. When the muscles of the lower jaw are affected, it is called locked-jaw, or lickjaw, and it takes various names from the various incurvations of the body resulting from the spasm.

ellow. His thanks, Her thanks, etc., of his or her own accord; with his or her good will; voluntary. [Obs.] Full sooth is said that love ne lordship, Will not, his thanks, have no fellowship. Chaucer. -- In thank, with thanks or thankfulness. [Obs.] -- Thank offering, an offering made as an expression of thanks.…

An affection apparently congenital, consisting in tonic contraction and stiffness of the voluntary muscles occurring after a period of muscular inaction.

A condition, often simulating death, in which there is a total suspension of the power of voluntary movement, with abolition of all evidences of mental activity and the reduction to a minimum of all the vital functions so that the patient lies still and apparently unconscious of surrounding objects, while the pulsation…

An involuntary shaking or quivering. I am all of a tremble when I think of it. W. Black.

An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear; quaking; quivering.

Any voluntary transgression of the moral law; any violation of a known rule of duty; sin. The fatal trespass done by Eve. Milton. You . . . who were dead in trespasses and sins. Eph. if. 1.