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Inspire
Definitions
- 1 To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by inspiration. transitive
"He knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul."
- 2 draw in (air) wordnet
- 3 To infuse into; to affect, as with a superior or supernatural influence; to fill with what animates, enlivens or exalts; to communicate inspiration to. transitive
"Elders should inspire children with sentiments of virtue."
- 4 fill with revolutionary ideas wordnet
- 5 To draw in by the operation of breathing; to inhale. ambitransitive
"By means of those sulfurous coal smokes the lungs are as it were stifled and extremely oppressed, whereby they are forced to inspire and expire the air with difficulty."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 serve as the inciting cause of wordnet
- 7 To infuse by breathing, or as if by breathing.
- 8 spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts wordnet
- 9 To breathe into; to fill with the breath; to animate. archaic, transitive
"Deſcend ye nine! deſcend and ſing; / The breathing inſtruments inſpire, / VVake into voice each ſilent ſtring, / And ſvveep the ſounding lyre!"
- 10 supply the inspiration for wordnet
- 11 To spread rumour indirectly. transitive
- 12 heighten or intensify wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English inspiren, enspiren, from Old French inspirer, variant of espirer, from Latin īnspīrāre (“inspire”), itself a loan-translation of Biblical Ancient Greek πνέω (pnéō, “breathe”), from in + spīrō (“breathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Displaced native Old English onbryrdan (literally “to prick in”).
See also for "inspire"
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