Search the Dictionary

Sudden check; unexpected repulse; defeat; refusal; repellence; rejection of solicitation.

To drive or beat back; to repulse. Who him, recount'ring fierce, as hawk in flight, Perforce rebutted back. Spenser.

ve or artery. Recurrent fever. (Med.) See Relapsing fever, under Relapsing. -- Recurrent pulse (Physiol.), the pulse beat which appears (when the radial artery is compressed at the wrist) on the distal side of the point of pressure through the arteries of the palm of the hand. -- Recurrent sensibility (Physiol.), the…

ness. Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells. -- Reflex nerve (Physiol.), an excito-motory ne…

The inward impulses; the affections and passions; -- so called because formerly supposed to have their seat in the part of the body where the kidneys are. My reins rejoice, when thy lips speak right things. Prov. xxiii. 16. I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. Rev. ii. 23. Reins of a vault (Arch.), the parts b…

To drive back; to force to return; to check the advance of; to repulse as, to repel an enemy or an assailant. Hippomedon repelled the hostile tide. Pope. They repelled each other strongly, and yet attracted each other strongly. Macaulay.

The act of repulsing or repelling, or the state of being repulsed or repelled.

Serving, or able, to repulse; repellent; as, a repulsive force. Repulsive of his might the weapon stood. Pope.

ing to force or external pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to projectiles.

In the widest sense, a dividing into short portions by a regular succession of motions, impulses, sounds, accents, etc., producing an agreeable effect, as in music poetry, the dance, or the like.

w he exact of all, wastes in delight, Riots in pleasure, and neglects the law. Daniel. No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows. Pope.

polarized, or deflected by a magnetic field. They are regarded as nonperiodic, transverse pulses in the ether. They are used in examining opaque objects, as for locating fractures or bullets in the human body.

To have a strong sexual impulse at the reproductive period; -- said of deer, cattle, etc.

player's touching to the ground behind his own goal line a ball which received its last impulse from a man on his own side; -- distinguished from touchback. See Touchdown. -- Safety tube (Chem.), a tube to prevent explosion, or to control delivery of gases by an automatic valvular connection with the outer air; especi…

ound floor. -- Second thought or thoughts, consideration of a matter following a first impulse or impression; reconsideration. On second thoughts, gentlemen, I don't wish you had known him. Dickens.

h's surface vertically over the center of effort or focal point whence the earthquake's impulse proceeds, or the vertical line connecting these two points.

Motion given by inherent power, without external impulse; spontaneus or voluntary motion. Matter is not induced with self-motion. Cheyne.

Moved by inherent power., without the aid of external impulse.

Moving by inherent power, without the aid of external impulse.

The impulse of a wave by which a vessel is carried bodily. [Written also scend.] W. C. Russell. "The send of the sea". Longfellow.