Hypertext Webster Gateway: "impetus"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Impetus \Im"pe*tus\, n. [L., fr. impetere to rush upon, attack;
pref. im- in + petere to fall upon, seek. See {Petition}.]
1. A property possessed by a moving body in virtue of its
weight and its motion; the force with which any body is
driven or impelled; momentum.
Note: Momentum is the technical term, impetus its popular
equivalent, yet differing from it as applied commonly
to bodies moving or moved suddenly or violently, and
indicating the origin and intensity of the motion,
rather than its quantity or effectiveness.
2. Fig.: Impulse; incentive; vigor; force. --Buckle.
3. (Gun.) The aititude through which a heavy body must fall
to acquire a velocity equal to that with which a ball is
discharged from a piece.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
impetus
n 1: a force that moves something along [syn: {drift}, {impulsion}]
2: the act of applying force suddenly; "the impulse knocked him
over" [syn: {impulse}, {impulsion}]
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