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vigor; full of physical or mental strength or active force; strong; lusty; robust; as, a vigorous youth; a vigorous plant. Famed for his valor, young, At sea successful, vigorous and strong. Waller.

Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble; as, an active child or animal. Active and nervous was his gait. Wordsworth.

The state or quality of being active; nimbleness; agility; vigorous action or operation; energy; active force; as, an increasing variety of human activities. "The activity of toil." Palfrey.

With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly. They on the hill, which were not yet come to blows, perceiving the fewness of their enemies, came down amain. Milton. That striping giant, ill-bred and scoffing, shouts amain. T. Parker.

Endowed with life; full of life or spirit; indicating animation; lively; vigorous. "Animated sounds." Pope. "Animated bust." Gray. "Animated descriptions." Lewis.

Befitting an athlete; strong; muscular; robust; vigorous; as, athletic Celts. "Athletic soundness." South. -- Ath*let"ic*al*ly, adv.

mphasis on empirical method in science. It received its impetus from the unsystematic but vigorous skepticism of Pierre Bayle, the physical doctrines of Newton, and the epistemological theories of Locke, in the preceding century. Its chief center was in France, where it gave rise to the skepticism of Voltaire , the nat…

To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blaows; to knock vigorously or loudly. The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges. xix. 22.

To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; -- usually with the reciprocal pronoun. You have so bestirred your valor. Shak. Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Milton.

A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault. A vigorous blow might win [Hanno's camp]. T. Arnold.

Exhibiting or requiring spirit and contempt of danger; planned with courage; daring; vigorous. "The bold design leased highly." Milton.

Having an active or vigorous mind. [Colloq.]

d by an attempt above its power, either is disabled for the future, or else checks at any vigorous undertaking ever after. Locke.

Strong; vigorous; valiant. [Obs.] Wyclif. Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake be comfortable; hold death a while at the arm's end. Shak.

Fig.: A blackening; defamation. The vigorous denigration of science. Morley.

Having energy or energies; possessing a capacity for vigorous action or for exerting force; active. "A Being eternally energetic." Grew.

Power efficiently and forcibly exerted; vigorous or effectual operation; as, the energy of a magistrate.

To give life, action, or motion to; to make vigorous or active; to excite; to quicken; as, fresh fuel enlivens a fire. Lo! of themselves th' enlivened chessmen move. Cowley.

diseases, or errors. This, although now an old an inveterate evil, might be eradicated by vigorous treatment. Southey.

To put force, ability, or anything of the nature of an active faculty; to put in vigorous action; to bring into active operation; as, to exert the strength of the body, limbs, faculties, or imagination; to exert the mind or the voice.