impulse

plural impulses

1. A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.

   c. 1715-1716, Samuel Clarke, letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse.

2. A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action.

   The impulse to learn drove me to study night and day.

   4 more examples

   When I saw the new book, I couldn't resist the impulse to browse through it.

   Theſe were my natural Impulses for the undertaking: […]

   1685, John Dryden, transl., “Preface”, in Sylvæ: Or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, page 16

   Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one,[…].”

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   An impulse urged him to plant a sudden blow on it, by he forced himself to consider the impolicy of such an act.

   1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 218

3. natural sciencesThe integral of force over time.

   The total impulse from the impact will depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile.

present singular third person impulses · participle present impulsing · participle past impulsed · past impulsed

1. transitiveTo impel; to incite.

   With that force so impulsed and prest they are carried under the deepe Ocean.

   1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)