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positive command; authoritatively or absolutely directive; commanding; authoritative; as, imperative orders. The suit of kings are imperative. Bp. Hall.

In an imperative manner.

By ellipsis of the verb, equivalent to an imperative: Go or come ~; begone; take ~. And the Lord said . . . Away, get thee down. Exod. xix. 24.

To fix the form or character of; to shape; to prescribe imperatively; to regulate; to settle. The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God. J. Edwards. Something divinely beautiful . . . that at some time or other might influence or even determine her course of life. W. Black.…

Do you love me" Shak. (d) Do, as an auxiliary, is supposed to have been first used before imperatives. It expresses entreaty or earnest request; as, do help me. In the imperative mood, but not in the indicative, it may be used with the verb to be; as, do be quiet. Do, did, and done often stand as a general substitute o…

on duty. With records sweet of duties done. Keble. To employ him on the hardest and most imperative duty. Hallam. Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them. C. J. Smith.

make no account of; not to heed. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Of force, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. "Good reasons must, of force, give place to better." Shak. -- Plastic force (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the tissues. -- Vital force (Physiol.), that force or power which…

ted States, to the right side); -- said of cattle, or a team; used most frequently in the imperative, often with off, by drivers of oxen, in directing their teams, and opposed to haw, or hoi. [Written also jee.]

To listen; to hearken. [Now rare, except in the imperative form used as an interjection, Hark! listen.] Hudibras. Hark away! Hark back! Hark forward! (Sporting), cries used to incite and guide hounds in hunting. -- To hark back, to go back for a fresh start, as when one has wandered from his direct course, or made a d…

le or a team: a word used by teamsters in guiding their teams, and most frequently in the imperative. See Gee. To haw and gee, or To haw and gee about, to go from one thing to another without good reason; to have no settled purpose; to be irresolute or unstable. [Colloq.]

Not to more; to halt; to stop;-mostly in the imperative. And damned be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" Shak.

To become or to keep still or quiet; to become silent; -- esp. used in the imperative, as an exclamation; be still; be silent or quiet; make no noise. Hush, idle words, and thoughts of ill. Keble. But all these strangers' presence every one did hush. Spenser.

Of or pertaining to the imperative mood.

Commanding; imperative; authoritative.

Imperative. [R.]

Imperative; urgent; compelling. Imperious need, which can not be withstood. Dryden.

To question imperatively, as a minister, or other executive officer, in explanation of his conduct; -- generally on the part of a legislative body.

An act of interpellating, or of demanding of an officer an explanation of his action; imperative or peremptory questioning; a point raised in a debate.

In the imperative: see; behold; take notice; take care; observe; - - used to call attention. Look, how much we thus expel of sin, so much we expel of virtue. Milton.

In an optative manner; with the expression of desire. [R.] God blesseth man imperatively, and man blesseth God optatively. Bp. Hall.