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inspire - 5 dictionary results
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in⋅spire

   [in-spahyuhr]
verb, -spired, -spir⋅ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence: His courage inspired his followers.
2. to produce or arouse (a feeling, thought, etc.): to inspire confidence in others.
3. to fill or affect with a specified feeling, thought, etc.: to inspire a person with distrust.
4. to influence or impel: Competition inspired her to greater efforts.
5. to animate, as an influence, feeling, thought, or the like, does: They were inspired by a belief in a better future.
6. to communicate or suggest by a divine or supernatural influence: writings inspired by God.
7. to guide or control by divine influence.
8. to prompt or instigate (utterances, acts, etc.) by influence, without avowal of responsibility.
9. to give rise to, bring about, cause, etc.: a philosophy that inspired a revolution.
10. to take (air, gases, etc.) into the lungs in breathing; inhale.
11. Archaic.
a. to infuse (breath, life, etc.) by breathing (usually fol. by into).
b. to breathe into or upon.
–verb (used without object)
12. to give inspiration.
13. to inhale.
Origin:
1300–50; ME inspiren < L inspīrāre to breathe upon or into, equiv. to in- in- 2 + spīrāre to breathe
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : inspire
Spanish: animar, estimular, German: anfeuern, Japanese: 奮起させる
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in·spire     (ĭn-spīr')  Pronunciation Key 
v.   in·spired, in·spir·ing, in·spires

v.   tr.
  1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.
  2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion: hymns that inspire the congregation; an artist who was inspired by Impressionism.
    1. To stimulate to action; motivate: a sales force that was inspired by the prospect of a bonus.
    2. To affect or touch: The falling leaves inspired her with sadness.
    3. To breathe on.
    4. To breathe life into.
  4. To draw forth; elicit or arouse: a teacher who inspired admiration and respect.
  5. To be the cause or source of; bring about: an invention that inspired many imitations.
  6. To draw in (air) by inhaling.
  7. Archaic
    1. To breathe on.
    2. To breathe life into.

v.   intr.
  1. To stimulate energies, ideals, or reverence: a leader who inspires by example.
  2. To inhale.


[Middle English enspiren, from Old French enspirer, from Latin īnspīrāre : in-, into; see in-2 + spīrāre, to breathe.]

in·spir'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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inspire

verb
1. heighten or intensify; "These paintings exalt the imagination" 
2. supply the inspiration for; "The article about the artist inspired the exhibition of his recent work" 
3. serve as the inciting cause of; "She prompted me to call my relatives" [syn: prompt] 
4. spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts; "The crowd cheered the demonstrating strikers" [syn: cheer] 
5. fill with revolutionary ideas [syn: revolutionize] 
6. draw in (air); "Inhale deeply"; "inhale the fresh mountain air"; "The patient has trouble inspiring"; "The lung cancer patient cannot inspire air very well" [syn: inhale] [ant: breathe out] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Inspire

In`spi*ra"tion\, n. [F. inspiration, L. inspiratio. See Inspire.]

1. The act of inspiring or breathing in; breath; specif. (Physiol.), the drawing of air into the lungs, accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls and flattening of the diaphragm; -- the opposite of expiration.

2. The act or power of exercising an elevating or stimulating influence upon the intellect or emotions; the result of such influence which quickens or stimulates; as, the inspiration of occasion, of art, etc.

Your father was ever virtuous, and holy men at their death have good inspirations. --Shak.

3. (Theol.) A supernatural divine influence on the prophets, apostles, or sacred writers, by which they were qualified to communicate moral or religious truth with authority; a supernatural influence which qualifies men to receive and communicate divine truth; also, the truth communicated.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. --2 Tim. iii. 16.

The age which we now live in is not an age of inspiration and impulses. --Sharp.

Plenary inspiration (Theol.), that kind of inspiration which excludes all defect in the utterance of the inspired message.

Verbal inspiration (Theol.), that kind of inspiration which extends to the very words and forms of expression of the divine message.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

Inspire

In*spire"\, v. t. [OE. enspiren, OF. enspirer, inspirer, F. inspirer, fr. L. inspirare; pref. in- in + spirare to breathe. See Spirit.]

1. To breathe into; to fill with the breath; to animate.

When Zephirus eek, with his sweete breath, Inspir[`e]d hath in every holt and health The tender crops. --Chaucer.

Descend, ye Nine, descend and sing, The breathing instruments inspire. --Pope.

2. To infuse by breathing, or as if by breathing.

He knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul. --Wisdom xv. 11.

3. To draw in by the operation of breathing; to inhale; -- opposed to expire.

Forced to inspire and expire the air with difficulty. --Harvey.

4. 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.

And generous stout courage did inspire. --Spenser.

But dawning day new comfort hath inspired. --Shak.

5. To infuse into; to affect, as with a superior or supernatural influence; to fill with what animates, enlivens, or exalts; to communicate inspiration to; as, to inspire a child with sentiments of virtue.

Erato, thy poet's mind inspire, And fill his soul with thy celestial fire. --Dryden.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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