IMPULSE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Impulse

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/ˈɪmpəls/ /ɪmpˈəls/ Listen

noun

Impulse n.

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."

The effect of an impelling force; motion produced by a sudden or momentary force.

(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.

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; to buy something on impulse. "These were my natural impulses for the undertaking."

Synonyms: Force; incentive; influence; motive; feeling; incitement; instigation.

verb

Impulse v. t. To impel; to incite. (Obs.)

See images of 'Impulse'

Etymology of 'Impulse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impulse" Quotes from Famous Books

... the process at work. And yet Lyly owed a great debt to Guevara. A true solution, therefore, must find a place for foreign as well as native influences. And to say that the Spanish intervention confirmed and hastened a development already at work, of which the original impulse was English, is, I think, to give a due allowance ...

— John Lyly • John Dover Wilson

... the march of innovation. The steel engravings still hung in the hall, and the ugly staircase had not been reformed. Colonel Hitchcock came into the house, and without looking into the study went upstairs. Sommers started to intercept him in the hall, but restrained the impulse. Miss Hitchcock appeared in a few moments, advancing to greet him with a frank smile, as if it were the most natural thing ...

— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... older. He is rather handsome, and has ventured as far in the direction of poetic dandyism in the arrangement of his hair as any man who is not a professional artist can afford to in England. He is obviously very much in love with the lady, and is, in fact, yielding to an irresistible impulse to throw his ...

— Overruled • George Bernard Shaw

... dramatic biographies; In Memory of McCullough; The Life of John Gilbert; The Life and Works of John Brougham; The Press and the Stage; The Actor and Other Speeches; and A Daughter of Comedy, being the life of Ada Rehan. The impulse of all those writings, and of the present volume, is commemorative. Let us save ...

— Shadows of the Stage • William Winter

... the natural impulse of the Celtic nature, which is open and confiding, therefore in the reaction cunning and suspicious, he had practised reticence so long, that he now recoiled from a breach of the habit which had become a second, false nature. He felt like one who, having caught a bird, holds it ...

— Malcolm • George MacDonald

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