資料來源 : pyDict

生命力

資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Vital \Vi"tal\, a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to
   vivere to live. See {Vivid}.]
   1. Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable;
      as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.

   2. Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life;
      as, vital blood.

            Do the heavens afford him vital food? --Spenser.

            And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth.
                                                  --Milton.

   3. Containing life; living. ``Spirits that live throughout,
      vital in every part.'' --Milton.

   4. Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends;
      mortal.

            The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part. --Pope.

   5. Very necessary; highly important; essential.

            A competence is vital to content.     --Young.

   6. Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. [R.]

            Pythagoras and Hippocrates . . . affirm the birth of
            the seventh month to be vital.        --Sir T.
                                                  Browne.

   {Vital air}, oxygen gas; -- so called because essential to
      animal life. [Obs.]

   {Vital capacity} (Physiol.), the breathing capacity of the
      lungs; -- expressed by the number of cubic inches of air
      which can be forcibly exhaled after a full inspiration.

   {Vital force}. (Biol.) See under {Force}. The vital forces,
      according to Cope, are nerve force (neurism), growth force
      (bathmism), and thought force (phrenism), all under the
      direction and control of the vital principle. Apart from
      the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer
      need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable
      character, nor vital force as anything other than a form
      of physical energy derived from, and convertible into,
      other well-known forces of nature.

   {Vital functions} (Physiol.), those functions or actions of
      the body on which life is directly dependent, as the
      circulation of the blood, digestion, etc.

   {Vital principle}, an immaterial force, to which the
      functions peculiar to living beings are ascribed.

   {Vital statistics}, statistics respecting the duration of
      life, and the circumstances affecting its duration.

   {Vital tripod}. (Physiol.) See under {Tripod}.

   {Vital vessels} (Bot.), a name for latex tubes, now disused.
      See {Latex}.

Force \Force\, n. [F. force, LL. forcia, fortia, fr. L. fortis
   strong. See {Fort}, n.]
   1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor;
      might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy;
      capacity of exercising an influence or producing an
      effect; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or
      impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special
      signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a
      contract, or a term.

            He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power;
      violence; coercion.

            Which now they hold by force, and not by right.
                                                  --Shak.

   3. Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval
      combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; --
      an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the
      plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other
      ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation.

            Is Lucius general of the forces?      --Shak.

   4. (Law)
      (a) Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary
          to law, upon persons or things; violence.
      (b) Validity; efficacy. --Burrill.

   5. (Physics) Any action between two bodies which changes, or
      tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or
      motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to
      change, any physical relation between them, whether
      mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of
      any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force;
      centrifugal force.

   {Animal force} (Physiol.), muscular force or energy.

   {Catabiotic force} [Gr. ? down (intens.) + ? life.] (Biol.),
      the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining
      cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with
      the primary structures.

   {Centrifugal force}, {Centripetal force}, {Coercive force},
      etc. See under {Centrifugal}, {Centripetal}, etc.

   {Composition of forces}, {Correlation of forces}, etc. See
      under {Composition}, {Correlation}, etc.

   {Force and arms} [trans. of L. vi et armis] (Law), an
      expression in old indictments, signifying violence.

   {In force}, or {Of force}, of unimpaired efficacy; valid; of
      full virtue; not suspended or reversed. ``A testament is
      of force after men are dead.'' --Heb. ix. 17.

   {Metabolic force} (Physiol.), the influence which causes and
      controls the metabolism of the body.

   {No force}, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account;
      hence, to do no force, to make no account of; not to heed.
      [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   {Of force}, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. ``Good
      reasons must, of force, give place to better.'' --Shak.

   {Plastic force} (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts
      in the growth and repair of the tissues.

   {Vital force} (Physiol.), that force or power which is
      inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the
      cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished
      from the physical forces generally known.

   Syn: Strength; vigor; might; energy; stress; vehemence;
        violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion.

   Usage: {Force}, {Strength}. Strength looks rather to power as
          an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the
          strength of timber, bodily strength, mental strength,
          strength of emotion, etc. Force, on the other hand,
          looks more to the outward; as, the force of
          gravitation, force of circumstances, force of habit,
          etc. We do, indeed, speak of strength of will and
          force of will; but even here the former may lean
          toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the
          latter toward the outward expression of it in action.
          But, though the two words do in a few cases touch thus
          closely on each other, there is, on the whole, a
          marked distinction in our use of force and strength.
          ``Force is the name given, in mechanical science, to
          whatever produces, or can produce, motion.'' --Nichol.

                Thy tears are of no force to mollify This flinty
                man.                              --Heywood.

                More huge in strength than wise in works he was.
                                                  --Spenser.

                Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their
                orisons, and found Strength added from above,
                new hope to spring Out of despair. --Milton.

資料來源 : WordNet®

vital force
     n : (biology) a hypothetical force (not physical or chemical)
         once thought by Henri Bergson to cause the evolution and
         development of organisms [syn: {life force}, {vitality},
         {elan vital}]