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The act of willing or choosing; the act of forming a purpose; the exercise of the will. Volition is the actual exercise of the power the mind has to order the consideration of any idea, or the forbearing to consider it. Locke. Volition is an act of the mind, knowingly exerting that dominion it takes itself to have over…

Belonging or relating to volition. "The volitional impulse." Bacon.

Concerned both in sensation and volition; -- applied to those nerve fibers which pass to and from the cerebro-spinal axis, and are respectively concerned in sensation and volition. Dunglison.

mass of soft matter (the center of the nervous system, and the seat of consciousness and volition) which is inclosed in the cartilaginous or bony cranium of vertebrate animals. It is simply the anterior termination of the spinal cord, and is developed from three embryonic vesicles, whose cavities are connected with th…

Not having sensation; senseless; inanimate; unconscious; without intelligence or volition; as, the brute earth; the brute powers of nature.

A sudden suspension of sensation and volition, the body and limbs preserving the position that may be given them, while the action of the heart and lungs continues.

actus volui" (I consented under compulsion) is the condition of mind which, when there is volition forced by coercion, annuls the result of such coercion. Wharton.

ly or logically dependent; consequential; succeeding. The actions of a man consecutive to volition. Locke.

Excited or caused by sensation, sympathy, or reflex action, and not by conscious volition; as, consensual motions. Consensual contract (Law), a contract formed merely by consent, as a marriage contract.

to an act, or making itself apparent by an effect; -- said of mental acts; as, an emanant volition.

center and then reflected back so as to produce muscular contraction without sensation or volition.

capacity; capacity for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul. But know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties that serve Reason as chief. Milton. What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason !…

ts, which are automatic expressions of dominant ideas, rather than the result of distinct volitional efforts, as the act of expressing the thoughts in speech, or in writing, while the mind is occupied in the composition of the sentence. Carpenter.

izant; failing to apprehended or notice. Of the several operations themselves, as acts of volition, we are wholly incognizant. Sir W. Hamilton.

of drapery, etc. (b) A mere puppet; one who serves the will of others without independent volition. -- Lay race, that part of a lay on which the shuttle travels in weaving; -- called also shuttle race.

object. By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively. J. Edwards.

m (Anat.), the specialized coördinating apparatus which endows animals with sensation and volition. In vertebrates it is often divided into three systems: the central, brain and spinal cord; the peripheral, cranial and spinal nerves; and the sympathetic. See Brain, Nerve, Spinal cord, under Spinal, and Sympathetic syst…

Adverse action of will; unwillingness; -- opposed to Ant: volition. A nolition and a direct enmity against the lust. Jer. Taylor.

hat he was doing. De Quincey. A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition. G. Eliot.

Knowledge of events before they take place; foresight. God's certain prescience of the volitions of moral agents. J. Edwards.