Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Spirit
Spir′it
,Noun.
1.
Air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself.
[Obs.]
“All of spirit would deprive.” Spenser.
The mild air, with season moderate,
Gently attempered, and disposed eo well,
That still it breathed foorth sweet
Gently attempered, and disposed eo well,
That still it breathed foorth sweet
spirit
. Spenser.
2.
A rough breathing; an aspirate, as the letter h; also, a mark to denote aspiration; a breathing.
[Obs.]
Be it a letter or
spirit
, we have great use for it. B. Jonson.
3.
Life, or living substance, considered independently of corporeal existence; an intelligence conceived of apart from any physical organization or embodiment; vital essence, force, or energy, as distinct from matter.
4.
The intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of man; the soul, in distinction from the body in which it resides; the agent or subject of vital and spiritual functions, whether spiritual or material.
There is a
spirit
in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Job xxxii. 8.
As the body without the
spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James ii. 26.
Spirit
is a substance wherein thinking, knowing, doubting, and a power of moving, do subsist. Locke.
5.
Specifically, a disembodied soul; the human soul after it has left the body.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the
spirit
shall return unto God who gave it. Eccl. xii. 7.
Ye gentle
With whom we shared the cup of grace.
spirits
far away,With whom we shared the cup of grace.
Keble.
6.
Any supernatural being, good or bad; an apparition; a specter; a ghost; also, sometimes, a sprite,; a fairy; an elf.
Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions of
spirits
and goblins in the dark. Locke.
7.
Energy, vivacity, ardor, enthusiasm, courage, etc.
“Write it then, quickly,” replied Bede; and summoning all his
spirits
together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired. Fuller.
8.
One who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper;
as, a ruling
. spirit
; a schismatic spirit
Such
spirits
as he desired to please, such would I choose for my judges. Dryden.
9.
Temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; – often in the plural;
as, to be cheerful, or in good
. spirits
; to be downhearted, or in bad spirits
God has . . . made a
spirit
of building succeed a spirit
of pulling down. South.
A perfect judge will read each work of wit
With the same
With the same
spirit
that its author writ. Pope.
10.
Intent; real meaning; – opposed to the letter, or to formal statement; also, characteristic quality, especially such as is derived from the individual genius or the personal character;
as, the
. spirit
of an enterprise, of a document, or the like11.
Tenuous, volatile, airy, or vapory substance, possessed of active qualities.
All bodies have
spirits
. . . within them. Bacon.
12.
Any liquid produced by distillation; especially, alcohol, the spirits, or spirit, of wine (it having been first distilled from wine): – often in the plural.
13.
pl.
Rum, whisky, brandy, gin, and other distilled liquors having much alcohol, in distinction from wine and malt liquors.
15.
(Alchemy)
Any one of the four substances, sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, or arsenic (or, according to some, orpiment).
The four
spirits
and the bodies seven. Chaucer.
16.
(Dyeing)
Stannic chloride. See under
Stannic
. ☞ Spirit is sometimes joined with other words, forming compounds, generally of obvious signification; as, spirit-moving, spirit-searching, spirit-stirring, etc.
Astral spirits
, Familiar spirits
Animal spirits
. (a)
(Physiol.)
The fluid which at one time was supposed to circulate through the nerves and was regarded as the agent of sensation and motion; – called also the
nervous fluid
, or nervous principle
. (b)
Physical health and energy; frolicsomeness; sportiveness.
– Ardent spirits
, strong alcoholic liquors, as brandy, rum, whisky, etc., obtained by distillation.
– Holy Spirit
, or
The Spirit
(Theol.)
, the Spirit of God, or the third person of the Trinity; the Holy Ghost. The spirit also signifies the human spirit as influenced or animated by the Divine Spirit.
– Proof spirit
. (Chem.)
See under
– Proof
. Rectified spirit
(Chem.)
, spirit rendered purer or more concentrated by redistillation, so as to increase the percentage of absolute alcohol.
– Spirit butterfly
(Zool.)
, any one of numerous species of delicate butterflies of tropical America belonging to the genus
– Ithomia
. The wings are gauzy and nearly destitute of scales. Spirit duck
. (Zool.)
(a)
The buffle-headed duck
. (b)
The golden-eye.
– Spirit lamp
(Art)
, a lamp in which alcohol or methylated spirit is burned.
– Spirit level
. See under
– Level
. Spirit of hartshorn
. (Old Chem.)
See under
– Hartshorn
. Spirit of Mindererus
(Med.)
, an aqueous solution of acetate of ammonium; – named after R.
– Minderer
, physician of Augsburg. Spirit of nitrous ether
(Med. Chem.)
, a pale yellow liquid, of a sweetish taste and a pleasant ethereal odor. It is obtained by the distillation of alcohol with nitric and sulphuric acids, and consists essentially of ethyl nitrite with a little acetic aldehyde. It is used as a diaphoretic, diuretic, antispasmodic, etc. Called also
– sweet spirit of niter
. Spirit of salt
(Chem.)
, hydrochloric acid; – so called because obtained from salt and sulphuric acid.
[Obs.]
– Spirit of sense
, the utmost refinement of sensation.
[Obs.]
Shak.
– Spirits of turpentine
, or
Spirit of turpentine
(Chem.)
, rectified oil of turpentine, a transparent, colorless, volatile, and very inflammable liquid, distilled from the turpentine of the various species of pine; camphine. It is commonly used to remove paint from surfaces, or to dissole oil-based paint. See
– Camphine
. Spirit of vitriol
(Chem.)
, sulphuric acid; – so called because formerly obtained by the distillation of green vitriol.
[Obs.]
– Spirit of vitriolic ether
(Chem.)
ethyl ether; – often but incorrectly called
sulphuric ether
. See Ether
. [Obs.]
– Spirits of wine
, or
Spirit of wine
(Chem.)
, alcohol; – so called because formerly obtained by the distillation of wine.
– Spirit rapper
, one who practices spirit rapping; a “medium” so called.
– Spirit rapping
, an alleged form of communication with the spirits of the dead by raps. See
– Spiritualism
, 3. Sweet spirit of niter
. See
Spirit of nitrous ether
, above.
Syn. – Life; ardor; energy; fire; courage; animatioon; cheerfulness; vivacity; enterprise.
Spir′it
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Spirited
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Spiriting
.] 1.
To animate with vigor; to excite; to encourage; to inspirit;
as, civil dissensions often
; – sometimes followed by up. spirit
the ambition of private menMany officers and private men
spirit
up and assist those obstinate people to continue in their rebellion. Swift.
2.
To convey rapidly and secretly, or mysteriously, as if by the agency of a spirit; to kidnap; – often with away, or off.
The ministry had him
spirited
away, and carried abroad as a dangerous person. Arbuthnot & Pope.
I felt as if I had been
spirited
into some castle of antiquity. Willis.
Spiriting away
(Law)
, causing to leave; the offense of inducing a witness to leave a jurisdiction so as to evade process requiring attendance at trial.
Webster 1828 Edition
Spirit
SPIR'IT
,Noun.
1.
Primarily, wind; air in motion; hence, breath. All bodies have spirits and pneumatical parts within them. [This sense is now unusual.]2.
Animal excitement, or the effect of it; life; ardor; fire; courage; elevation or vehemence of mind. The troops attacked the enemy with great spirit. The young man has the spirit of youth. He speaks or act with spirit. Spirits, in the plural, is used in nearly a like sense. The troops began to recover their spirits.3.
Vigor of intellect; genius. His wit, his beauty and his spirit. The noblest spirit or genius cannot deserve enough of mankind to pretend to the esteem of heroic virtue.4.
Temper; disposition of mind, habitual or temporary; as a man of a generous spirit, or of a revengeful spirit; the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. Let us go to the house of God in the spirit of prayer.5.
The soul of man; the intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of human beings. [See Soul.] the spirit shall return to God that gave it. Eceles. 12.6.
An immaterial intelligent substance. Spirit is a substance in which thinking, knowing, doubting, and a power of moving do subsist. Hence,7.
An immaterial intelligent being. By which he went and preached to the spirit in prison. I Pet. 3. God is a spirit. John 4.8.
Turn of mind; temper; occasions; state of the mind. A perfect judge will read each work of wit, with the same spirit that its author writ.9.
Powers of mind distinct from the body. In spirit perhaps he also saw Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume.10.
Sentiment; perception. You spirit is too true, your fears too certain.11.
Eager desire; disposition of mind excited and directed to a particular object. God has made a spirit of building succeed a spirit of pulling down.12.
A person of activity; a man of life, vigor or enterprise. The watery kingdom is no bar to stop the foreign spirits, but they come.13.
Persons distinguished by qualities of the mind. Such spirits as he desired to please, such would I choose for my judges.14.
Excitement of mind; animation; cheerfulness; usually in the plural. We found our friend in very good spirits. He has a great flow of spirits. -To sing thy praise, would heaven my breath prolong, Infusing spirits worthy such a song.15.
Life or strength of resemblance; essential qualities; as, to set off the face in its true spirit. The copy has not the spirit of the original.16.
Something eminently pure and refined. Nor doth the eye itself, that most pure spirit of sense, behold itself.17.
That which hath power or energy; the quality of any substance which manifest life, activity, or the power of strongly affecting other bodies; as the spirit of wine or of any liquor.18.
A strong, pungent or stimulation liquor, usually obtained by distillation, as rum, brandy, gin, whiskey. In America, spirit, used without other words explanatory of its meaning, signifies the liquor distilled from cane-juice, or rum. We say, new spirit, or old spirit, Jamaica spirit, &c.19.
An apparition; a ghost.20.
The renewed nature of man. Matt 26. Gal. 5.21.
The influences of the Holy Spirit. Matt. 22.Definition 2024
Spirit
spirit
spirit
English
Noun
spirit (plural spirits)
- The collective souls of man or another entity.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
- 1967, MacCormack, Woman Times Seven
- […] a triumph of the spirit over the flesh.
-
- A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.
- A wandering spirit haunts the island.
- John Locke
- Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions of spirits and goblins in the dark.
- Enthusiasm.
- 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2-2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
- The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.
- School spirit is at an all-time high.
-
- The manner or style of something.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
- No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or […] . And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
- In the spirit of forgiveness, we didn't press charges.
- Alexander Pope
- A perfect judge will read each work of wit / With the same spirit that its author writ.
-
- (usually in the plural) A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.
- Energy; ardour.
- Fuller
- "Write it then, quickly," replied Bede; and summoning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired.
- Fuller
- One who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper.
- a ruling spirit; a schismatic spirit
- Dryden
- Such spirits as he desired to please, such would I choose for my judges.
- Temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; often in the plural.
- to be cheerful, or in good spirits; to be down-hearted, or in bad spirits
- South
- God has […] made a spirit of building succeed a spirit of pulling down.
- (obsolete) Air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself.
- Spenser
- For, else he sure had left not one alive, / But all, in his Revenge, of Spirit would deprive.
- Spenser
- The mild air, with season moderate, / Gently attempered, and disposed so well, / That still it breathed forth sweet spirit.
- Spenser
- (obsolete) A rough breathing; an aspirate, such as the letter h; also, a mark denoting aspiration.
- Ben Jonson
- Be it a letter or spirit, we have great use for it.
- Ben Jonson
- Intent; real meaning; opposed to the letter, or formal statement.
- the spirit of an enterprise, or of a document
- (alchemy, obsolete) Any of the four substances: sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, and arsenic (or, according to some, orpiment).
- Chaucer
- the four spirits and the bodies seven
- Chaucer
- (dyeing) stannic chloride
Derived terms
Derived terms
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Look at pages starting with spirit.
Translations
soul
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supernatural being
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enthusiasm
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manner or style
alcohol
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See also
Verb
spirit (third-person singular simple present spirits, present participle spiriting, simple past and past participle spirited)
- To carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery.
- 2009 February 8, Dave Kehr, “Buñuel at His Wildest, in Circulation Again”, in New York Times:
- God does not make an appearance, but the Devil (Ms. Pinal) emphatically does: first in the guise of a schoolgirl who tries to lure Simon down with the sight of her shapely legs; then as a bearded but blatantly female Jesus carrying a lamb; and finally as a stylishly coiffed woman who succeeds in spiriting Simon off, by means of a jet, to a Manhattan discotheque — Buñuel’s persuasive idea of ****.
- Willis
- I felt as if I had been spirited into some castle of antiquity.
-
- To animate with vigor; to excite; to encourage; to inspirit; sometimes followed by up.
- Civil dissensions often spirit the ambition of private men.
- Jonathan Swift
- Many officers and private men spirit up and assist those obstinate people to continue in their rebellion.
Statistics
Most common English words before 1923: early · saying · talk · #450: spirit · sometimes · account · party
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowing from Latin spiritus. Compare also spiriduș.
Noun
spirit n (plural spirite)
Declension
declension of spirit
Related terms
See also
Tok Pisin
Etymology
Noun
spirit
- spirit (physical form of God)
- 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 1:2 (translation here):
- Tudak i karamapim bikpela wara na spirit bilong God i go i kam antap long en.
- 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 1:2 (translation here):
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