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motion suddenly, or immediately. All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse. S. Clarke.

A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.

Voluntary or spontaneous motion or impulse to act; -- preceded by own; as, of one's own accord. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap. Lev. xxv. 5. Of his own accord he went unto you. 2 Cor. vii. 17.

The mechanical contrivance by means of which the impulse of the player's finger is transmitted to the strings of a pianoforte or to the valve of an organ pipe. Grove. Chose in action. (Law) See Chose. -- Quantity of action (Physics), the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through, and its velocity.…

Tendency or impulse to act. [R.] Acturience, or desire of action, in one form or another, whether as restlessness, ennui, dissatisfaction, or the imagination of something desirable. J. Grote.

Conveying sensory or afferent impulses; -- said of nerves.

Bent of mind; a feeling or natural impulse or natural impulse acting upon and swaying the mind; any emotion; as, the benevolent affections, esteem, gratitude, etc. ; the malevolent affections, hatred, envy, etc.; inclination; disposition; propensity; tendency. Affection is applicable to an unpleasant as well as a pleas…

Of or pertaining to the affections; as, affectional impulses; an affectional nature.

A divine impartation of knowledge; supernatural impulse; inspiration. A poet writing against his genius will be like a prophet without his afflatus. Spence.

A variety of the lever escapement with a wide impulse pin.

A driving or running towards; approach; impulse; also, the act of striking against. In all consonants there is an appulse of the organs. Holder.

opulus tremula, so called from the trembling of its leaves, which move with the slightest impulse of the air.

absolute or controlling authority; supremacy. The divine will moves, not by the external impulse or inclination of objects, but determines itself by an absolute autocracy. South.

A calling away; a diversion. [Obs. or Archaic] Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin. South.

Lower; inferior; applied to impulses or springs of action. [R.] "Basilar instincts." H. W. Beecher.

ard of the foremast. -- Before the wind (Naut.), in the direction of the wind and by its impulse; having the wind aft.

ng kept in contact with it by the breasting. The water acts on the float boards partly by impulse, partly by its weight.

A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give; as, to give a ball a cant.

o those nerve fibers which go from the brain to the spinal cord, and so transfer cerebral impulses (centrifugal impressions) outwards.

To strike or drive back or in an opposite direction; to stop by a blow or impulse in front. Dryden.