n.
- the non-physical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character.
▸this regarded as surviving after the death of the body, often manifested as a ghost.
▸a supernatural being.
- the prevailing or typical quality or mood:
the nation's egalitarian spirit.
▸a person identified with their role or most prominent quality:
he was a leading spirit in the conference.
▸
(spirits)
a person's mood.
- courage, energy, and determination.
- the real meaning or intention of something as opposed to its strict verbal interpretation.
- chiefly Brit. strong distilled alcoholic drink such as rum.
▸
[
with modifier]
a volatile liquid, especially a fuel, prepared by distillation:
aviation spirit.
▸
archaic a solution of volatile components extracted from something:
spirits of turpentine.
- archaic a highly refined substance or fluid thought to govern vital phenomena.
v.
(spirits, spiriting, spirited)
-
(usu. spirit something away)
convey rapidly and secretly.
-
(spirit someone up)
archaic animate or cheer up someone.
Phrase
- in
(or in the)
spirit
in thought or intention though not physically. - when the spirit moves one
when one feels inclined to do something.
[a phr. orig. in Quaker use, with ref. to the Holy Spirit.]
Etymology
ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr., from L. spiritus ‘breath, spirit’, from spirare ‘breathe’.