appetet

t. [ME. appeten, I know not to what else we can better liken the strong appetence of the mind for improvement, than to a hunger and thirst after knowledge and truth. Everett , Orations, II. 277. They had a strong appetency for reading. Merivalo . Specifically-2. Strong natural craving for that which gratifies the senses; appetite; animal desire: as, "lustful appetence," Milton, P. L., xi. 619. The innate aversion to any poison known to modern chemistry can, by persistent disregard, be turned into a morbid appetency , vehement and persistent in proportion to the virulence of the poison. Pop . Sci . Mo. , XXVIII. 518. 3. A mental tendency toward an end; a vol i tion or desire. I shall occasionally employ the term appetency in the rigorous signification, as a genus comprehending under it Sir W. Hamilton . both desires and volitions. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary appetence The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary The present example 4. Instinctive inclination or natural tendency. These lacteals have mouths, and by animal selection or appetency they absorb such part of the fluid as is agreeable to their palate. E. Darwin. precisely contradicts the opinion that the parts of animals may have been all formed by what is called appetency, i, e., endeavour perpetuated, and imperceptibly working its effect through an incalculable series of generations. Paley, Nat. Theol., ix. 5. In inanimate things, material or chemical attraction or affinity.=Syn. See appetite.