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Celerity of motion; speed; swiftness; dispatch; expedition; -- applied only to voluntary beings, as men and other animals. The king's business required haste. 1 Sam. xxi. 8.

hich hats are formed or dressed. -- To pass around the hat, to take up a collection of voluntary contributions, which are often received in a hat. [Collog.] Lowell.

To render obtuse; to dull; to blunt; to stupefy; as, to hebetate the intellectual faculties. Southey

The act of making blunt, dull, or stupid.

omatopoetic word used as an expression of hesitation, doubt, etc. It is often a sort of voluntary half cough, loud or subdued, and would perhaps be better expressed by hm. Cough or cry hem, if anybody come. Shak.

xtremity or cusp of the moon when crescent-shaped. The moon Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. Thomson.

Done by express direction; not involuntary; communded. [Obs.] Those imperate acts, wherein we see the empire of the soul. Sir M. Hale.

of the animal organs to restrain the natural evacuations, so that the discharges are involuntary; as, incontinence of urine.

n movements resulting from inharmonious action of the muscles in consequence of loss of voluntary control over them.

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…

dly; to blend or merge. [R.] The gathering number, as it moves along, Involves a vast involuntary throng. Pope. Earth with hell To mingle and involve. Milton.

A blunt javelin used by the people of the Levant, especially in mock fights. [Written also jerreed, jerid.] Byron.

substance; -- applied esp. to the spinal cord, because it is capable of conveying doth voluntary and reflex motor impulses, without itself being affected by motor impulses applied to it directly.

A condition of the body, or mind, when its voluntary functions are performed with difficulty, and only by a strong exertion of the will; languor; debility; weariness. The corporeal instruments of action being strained to a high pitch . . . will soon feel a lassitude. Barrow.

identical with miryachit and jumping disease, the person affected performing various involuntary actions and making rapid inarticulate ejaculations in imitation of the actions and words of another person.

A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the face, particularly of the lips, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction, or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs. See Laugh, v. i. The act of laughter, which is a sweet contr…

The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry, artillery, etc.

nal cord characterized by peculiar disturbances of gait, and difficulty in coördinating voluntary movements.

The faculty or power of voluntarily producing light, as in the firefly and glowworm.

Slavery; involuntary servitude. [Obs.] Johnson.