spirit, spirite, spiryt, spyryt

[O. Fr. esprit (Fr. esprit ), from Lat. spiritum, acc us. of spiritus =breath, spirit, from spiro =to breathe; Sp. espiritu; Port. espirito; Ital. spirito. Spirit and sprite are doublets.] I. Ordinary Language : *1. Breath; the breath of life; hence, life itself, vital power, vitality. "Now my spirit is going; I can no more." Shakesp.: Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 15. *2. A breath of air; air, wind. "All purges have in them a raw spirit, or wind, which is the principal cause of tension in the stomach."- Bacon. 3. Immaterial intelligence; intelligence conceived of apart from any physical organization or material embodiment. but matter and mind, or body and spirit." Watts: Logic. "If we seclude space, will remain in the world 4. The intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of man; the soul, as distinguished from the body. 5. A disembodied soul; the 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. 6. A specter, an apparition, a ghost. 7. A supernatural being; a sprite, demon, angel, fairy, elf, or the like. "Sent by some spirit to mortals good, Or th' unseen genius of the wood." Milton: Il Penseroso, 151. 8. A person considered with regard to his peculiar characteristics of mind or temper, especially a man of life, fire, or enterprise. "The choice and master spirits of their age." Shakesp.: Julius Cæsar, iii. 1. pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot, IMG:content-0046.png:[blocks in formation] The spirit of love with a perpetual dullne ." Shakesp.: Sonnet 56. 14. Tenuous, volatile, airy, or vapory substances of active qualities. "All bodies have spirits and pneumatical parts within them."- Bacon . 15. A liquid obtained by distillation, especially alcohol, the spirit or spirits of wine, from which it was originally distilled. "In general, they give the name of spirit to any distilled volatile liquor." -Boyle. 16. ( Pl .): Distilled liquors, such as brandy, rum, gin, whisky, ., containing much alcohol, as distinguished from malt liquors or wine; as, to take a gla of spirits . 17. A solution of tin in an acid. (Used in dyeing.) *18. An aspirate, a breathing, as the letter h. "Be it letter or spirit , we have a great use for it in our tongue."-Ben Jonson: English Grammar. II. Pharm . ( pl . ): Solutions in spirit of the volatile principles of plants, prepared by macerating for a few days the bruised seeds, flowers, leaves, ., in rectified or in proof spirit, and distilling at a gentle heat. Many of the spirits of pharmacy are prepared by simply di olving the e ential oil of the plant in spirit of the prescribed strength. They are employed medicinally as aromatics and stimulants. (1) Animal spirits : [ANIMAL-SPIRITS.] (2) Medicinal spirits : [SPIRIT, 8. II.] IMG:content-0047.png:[blocks in formation] "I am well aware that the problem of the so-called spirit - manifestations is one to be discu ed on its merits, in order to arrive at a distinct opinion how far it may be concerned with facts insufficiently appreciated and explained by science, and how far with superstition, delusion, and sheer knavery." -Tylor: Prim. Cult . (ed. 1873), i. 142. spirit-merchant, subst. One who deals in or is licensed to sell spirituous liquors, as brandy, rum, whisky, . spirit-meter, s . An instrument for measuring the volume, and registering the strength, of spirits pa ing through a pipe leading from a still. spirit of turpentine, s. [CAMPHENE.]