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Webster 1913 Edition


Animal

An′i-mal

,
Noun.
[L., fr.
anima
breath, soul: cf. F.
animal
. See
Animate
.]
1.
An organized living being endowed with sensation and the power of voluntary motion, and also characterized by taking its food into an internal cavity or stomach for digestion; by giving carbonic acid to the air and taking oxygen in the process of respiration; and by increasing in motive power or active aggressive force with progress to maturity.
2.
One of the lower animals; a brute or beast, as distinguished from man;
as, men and
animals
.

An′i-mal

,
Adj.
[Cf. F.
animal
.]
1.
Of or relating to animals;
as,
animal
functions
.
2.
Pertaining to the merely sentient part of a creature, as distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or spiritual part;
as, the
animal
passions or appetites
.
3.
Consisting of the flesh of animals;
as,
animal
food
.
For definitions, see these names in the Vocabulary.

Webster 1828 Edition


Animal

AN'IMAL

,
Noun.
[L. animal, from anima, air, breath, soul.]
An organized body, endowed with life and the power of voluntary motion; a living, sensitive, locomotive body; as, man is an intelligent animal. Animals are essentially distinguished from plants by the property of sensation. The contractile property of some plants, as the mimosa, has the appearance of the effect of sensation, but it may be merely the effect of irritability.
The distinction here made between animals and vegetables, may not be philosophically accurate; for we cannot perhaps ascertain the precise limit between the two kinds of beings, but this is sufficiently correct for common practical purposes.
The history of animals is called zoology.
By way of contempt, a dull person is called a stupid animal.