Hypertext Webster Gateway: "impulse"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Impulse \Im"pulse\, n. [L. impulsus, fr. impellere. See
{Impel}.]
1. The act of impelling, or driving onward with sudden force;
impulsion; especially, force so communicated as to
produced motion suddenly, or immediately.
All spontaneous animal motion is performed by
mechanical impulse. --S. Clarke.
2. The effect of an impelling force; motion produced by a
sudden or momentary force.
3. (Mech.) The action of a force during a very small interval
of time; the effect of such action; as, the impulse of a
sudden blow upon a hard elastic body.
4. A mental force which simply and directly urges to action;
hasty inclination; sudden motive; momentary or transient
influence of appetite or passion; propension; incitement;
as, a man of good impulses; passion often gives a violent
impulse to the will.
These were my natural impulses for the undertaking.
--Dryden.
Syn: Force; incentive; influence; motive; feeling;
incitement; instigation.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Impulse \Im*pulse"\, v. t. [See {Impel}.]
To impel; to incite. [Obs.] --Pope.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
impulse
n 1: an instinctive motive; "profound religious impulses" [syn: {urge}]
2: a sudden desire; "he bought it on impulse" [syn: {caprice},
{vagary}, {whim}]
3: the electrical discharge that travels along a nerve fiber;
"they demonstrated the transmission of impulses from the
cortex to the hypothalamus" [syn: {nerve impulse}]
4: (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal
electrical state (or a series of such transients); "the
pulsations seemed to be coming from a star" [syn: {pulsation},
{pulsing}, {pulse}]
5: the act of applying force suddenly; "the impulse knocked him
over" [syn: {impulsion}, {impetus}]
6: an impelling force or strength; "the car's momentum carried
it off the road" [syn: {momentum}]
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