Spĭr'it1, n.
n. [O. Fr. espirit, esperit, N. Fr. esprit, Pr. esperit, sperit, Sp. espiritu, Pg. espirito, It. spirito, Lat. spiritus, from spirare, to breathe, to blow.]
Sense 1. Air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself. “All of spirit would deprive.” Spenser.
But the mild air, with season moderate, Gently attempered, and disposed so well, That still it breathed forth sweet spirit. Spenser.
Sense 2. A rough breathing; an aspirate; — said of the letter h. [Obs.]
Be it letter or spirit, we have great use for it in our tongue. B. Jonson.
Sense 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.
Sense 4. The intelligent, immaterial, and immortal part of man; the soul, in distinction from the body in which it resides.
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 in which thinking, knowing, doubting, and a power of moving, do subsist. Locke.
Sense 5. 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. Eccles. xii. 7.
He went and preached to the spirits in prison. 1 Pet. iii. 19.
Sense 6. Hence, a supernatural 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.
Sense 7. Any remarkable manifestation of life or energy; ardor, enthusiasm, earnestness, courage, and the like.
“Write it quickly,” replied Bede; and summoning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired. Fuller.
Sense 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.
Sense 9. Temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; often, in the plural, animation; cheerfulness; as, to be in good 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 spirit that its author writ. Pope.
Sense 10. Tenuous, volatile, airy, or vapory substance, of active qualities. “All bodies have spirits and pneumatical parts within them.” Bacon.
Sense 11. (pl.) Hence, a liquid produced by distillation; especially, alcohol, the spirit or spirits of wine, from which it was first distilled.
Sense 12. (pl.) Hence, rum, whisky, brandy, and other distilled liquors having much alcohol, in distinction from wine and malt liquors.
Sense 13. 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, and the like.
Sense 14. A mark intended to signify an aspiration; a breathing. [Obs. or rare.]
Sense 15. A solution of tin in an acid, used in dyeing.
☞ Spirit is sometimes joined with other words, forming compounds of very obvious signification; as, spirit-moving, spirit-piercing, spirit-rousing, spirit-searching, spirit-sinking, spirit-stirring, and the like.
Animal spirits (Physiol.), the fluid which is supposed to circulate through the nerves, and which has been regarded as the agent of sensation and motion, and as analogous in its effects and properties to electricity; the nervous fluid or nervous principle. Dunglison. — 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. — Rectified spirit, proof spirit made pure by distillation. — Spirit of salt (Chem.), hydrochloric acid dissolved in, or diluted with, water. Brande. — Spirit of sense, the utmost refinement of sensation. [Obs.] Shak. — Spirit of wine, pure alcohol, so called because formerly obtained only from wine. — Spirits of hartshorn, an impure carbonate of ammonia, obtained from the shavings of the horns of the hart or stag by destructive distillation; — a term applied also to ammoniacal solutions of carbonate of ammonia. — Spirits or spirit of turpentine (Chem.), a transparent, colorless, volatile, and very inflammable oil, distilled from the turpentine of the various species of pine; camphene. See CAMPHENE.
Synonyms—Life; ardor; fire; courage; animation; cheerfulness; vivacity; enterprise.