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spirit - What does it mean?

Definition of 'spirit'

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • The undying essence of a human; the soul.
  • * |chapter=7
    • |title= The Mirror and the Lamp |passage=[…] 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.
  • * {{quote-news|year=2011|date=October 1|author=Phil Dawkes|work=BBC Sport
    • |title= Sunderland 2-2 West Brom |passage=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.}}
  • The manner or style of something.
  • *
    • |title=(The Celebrity)|chapter=4 |passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • * 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.
  • 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 .
  • (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.
  • 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
  • (dyeing) stannic chloride

    • Derived terms

    (Derived terms) * community spirit * free spirit * Holy Spirit * in good spirits * in spirit (adverb) * in the spirit it was meant (idiom) * kindred spirit * methlyated spirit * moving spirit * party spirit * petroleum spirit * poor in spirit * proof spirit * pyroacetic spirit * rectified spirit * shad-spirit * spiritdom * spirited * spiriten * spirit-filled * spiritful * spirithood * spiritish * spiritless * spiritlike * spiritling * spiritly * spiritness * spiritous * spiritship * spiritsome * spiritual * spiritually * spirituality * spirit away (verb) (rel-mid) * spirit gum * spirit lamp * spirit level * spirit off * spirit of hartshorn * spirit of salt * spirit of the law * spirit of turpentine * spirit of vitriol * spirit of wine * spirit rapper/spirit rapping * spirit stove * spirit world * spirit writing * surgical spirit * team spirit * that's the spirit * the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak * white spirit * wood spirit * zombie spirit (rel-bottom) (spirit)

    See also

    * ghost * soul

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery.
  • * {{quote-news|year=2009|date=February 8|author=Dave Kehr|title=Buñuel at His Wildest, in Circulation Again|work=New York Times citation
    • |passage=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 hell.}}
  • * 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

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    Similar to 'spirit'

    sievert, sprout, support, sport, spurt, subvert, seaport, sprat, sprit, spirt, subpart, spayart, sefirot, savart