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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



34 words match “INSTINCT”

INSTINCT a. 5 definitions
Urged or sas, birds instinct with life. The chariot of paternal deity . . . Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed By four cherubic shapes. Milton. A noble performance, instinct with sound principle. Brougham.
INSTINCTION n.
Instinct; incitement; inspiration. [Obs.] Sir T. Elyot.
INSTINCTIVE a.
Of or pertaining to instinct; derived from, or prompted by, instinct; of the nature of instinct; determined by natural impulse or propensity; acting or produced without reasoning, deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous. "Instinctive motion." Milton. "Instinctive dread." Cowper. With taste instinctive giv…
INSTINCTIVELY adv.
In an instinctive manner; by force of instinct; by natural impulse.
INSTINCTIVITY n.
The quality of being instinctive, or prompted by instinct. [R.] Coleridge.
ABOLISH v.
to wipe out. [Archaic] And with thy blood abolish so reproachful blot. Spenser. His quick instinctive hand Caught at the hilt, as to abolish him. Tennyson.
ALIMENTIVENESS n.
The instinct or faculty of appetite for food. [Chiefly in Phrenol.]
ALLIGATE v.
To tie; to unite by some tie. Instincts alligated to their nature. Sir M. Hale.
ANTICIPATION n.
Previous view or impression of what is to happen; instinctive prevision; foretaste; antepast; as, the anticipation of the joys of heaven. The happy anticipation of renewed existence in company with the spirits of the just. Thodey.
APPETENCY n.
Specifically: An instinctive inclination or propensity in animals to perform certain actions, as in the young to suck, in aquatic fowls to enter into water and to swim; the tendency of an organized body to seek what satisfies the wants of its organism. These lacteals have mouths, and by animal selection or appetency th…
AUTOCRACY n.
The action of the vital principle, or of the instinctive powers, toward the preservation of the individual; also, the vital principle. [In this sense, written also autocrasy.] Dunglison.
BARRIER n.
Any limit or boundary; a line of separation. 'Twixt that [instinct] and reason, what a nice barrier ! Pope. Barrier gate, a heavy gate to close the opening through a barrier. -- Barrier reef, a form of coral reef which runs in the general direction of the shore, and incloses a lagoon channel more or less extensive. -…
BASILAR; BASILARY a.
Lower; inferior; applied to impulses or springs of action. [R.] "Basilar instincts." H. W. Beecher.
CONCURRENCE n.
the greatness of the work, and the necessity of the divine concurrence to it. Rogers. An instinct that works us to its own purposes without our concurrence. Burke.
COPY v.
To imitate; to attempt to resemble, as in manners or course of life. We copy instinctively the voices of our companions, their accents, and their modes of pronunciation. Stewart.
DIVINATORY a.
Professing, or relating to, divination. "A natural divinatory instinct." Cowley.
DYSTELEOLOGY n.
eleology, or the denial of final causes, a proof of the real existence of such a thing as instinct must necessarily be fatal. Word (Dynamic Sociology).
EREMITIC; EREMITICAL a.
hermitical; living in solitude. "An eremitical life in the woods." Fuller. "The eremitic instinct." Lowell.
IMITATE v.
her species of animal, or a plant, or inanimate object) in form, color, ornamentation, or instinctive habits, so as to derive an advantage thereby; sa, when a harmless snake imitates a venomous one in color and manner, or when an odorless insect imitates, in color, one having secretion offensive to birds.…
INANE a.
f sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless. "Vague and inane instincts." I. Taylor. -- In*ane"ly, adv.
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