[ad. L. animātiōn-em, n. of action f. animā-re: see ANIMATE.] The action of animating, or state of being animated.
† 1. The action of imparting life, vitality or (as the sign of life) motion; quickening, vitalizing. Obs.
1597. J. King, Jonah, xxvi. (1864), 167. Such as are strengthened by the arm and animation of God, his waves.
1623. Howell, Lett., I. xxix. The fourth act that goeth to make man, is called Animation.
1721. Bailey, Animation, the informing an animal body with a soul.
b. fig.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xxiii. § 49 (1873), 251. The administration, and (as I may term it) animation of laws.
2. The state of being animate or alive, animateness, vitality. Spirit of Animation: see ANIMAL SPIRITS. arch.
1615. T. Adams, Leaven, 116. Men of our own flesh, of the same animation with ourselves.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 169. Aristotle himself held the Worlds Animation, or a Mundane Soul.
1733. G. Cheyne, Eng. Malady, I. x. § 1 (1734), 90. Mere Mechanism … can never account for Animation, or the animal life even of the lowest Insect.
1794. E. Darwin, Zoon. (1801), I. 37. The spirit of animation is the immediate cause of the contraction of animal fibres—it resides in the brain and nerves.
1818. Mrs. Shelley, Frankenst. (1865), iii. 58. Capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
1837. Penny Cycl., IX. 159/2. A case of suspended animation in a seaman who had … fallen into the sea.
† 3. Representation of things as alive. Obs. rare.
1681. Hobbes, Rhet., III. ix. 114. Animation is that expression which makes us seem to see the thing before our eyes.
4. The action of filling with liveliness, enlivenment; enlivening operation or influence.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, 93. The animation of the chase and the glow of the exercise.
1820. Shelley, Prom. Unb., IV. i. 322. Ha! the animation of delight Which wraps me.
5. Liveliness of aspect or manner; vivacity, sprightliness, brightness.
1790. Boswell, Johnson, xxiv. 273. Johnson was in high spirits … talked with great animation and success.
a. 1817. Miss Austen, Mansf. Pk. (1851), 62. She discussed the possibility of improvements with much animation.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. viii. § 28. The substitution of the anapæst for the iambic … gives them [ballads] a remarkable elasticity and animation.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. Bremer’s Greece, I. i. 15. Little fishing-boats on the water gave animation to the scene.
† 6. The action of inspiring or filling with any impulse; inspiration. Obs.
1613. Daniel, Hist. Eng., 135. [The legate] now by the Kings animation, presumes more peremptorily to vrge them.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., 286. She by her counsel and animation stirs up the Seven-headed Beast to this Murther.
† b. esp. Inspiration with courage, encouragement.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 111. A great animation of my subsequent endeavours.
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 303. An intimation and animation to us to follow his example.
† 7. The imparting of any physical quality or virtue. Obs. rare.
1605. Timme, Quersit., II. xli. 117. We are now speaking of the animation of gold.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 604. The animation of the Voyce of Man by his Masculine and Generative power.
