Noun

(en noun)

The undying essence of a human; the soul.

* , chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit .}}

* 1967 , MacCormack, Woman Times Seven

a triumph of the spirit over the flesh.

A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.

A wandering spirit haunts the island.

* John Locke

Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions of spirits and goblins in the dark.

Enthusiasm.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport

, title= Sunderland 2-2 West Brom , passage=The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.}}

The manner or style of something.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or

* Alexander Pope

A perfect judge will read each work of wit / With the same spirit that its author writ.

(usually, in the plural) A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.

Energy; ardour.

* Fuller

"Write it then, quickly," replied Bede; and summoning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired.

One who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper.

a ruling spirit'''; a schismatic '''spirit

* Dryden

Such spirits as he desired to please, such would I choose for my judges.

Temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; often in the plural.

to be cheerful, or in good spirits'''; to be down-hearted, or in bad '''spirits

* South

God has made a spirit' of building succeed a ' spirit of pulling down.

(obsolete) Air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself.

* Spenser

For, else he sure had left not one alive, / But all, in his Revenge, of Spirit would deprive.

* Spenser

The mild air, with season moderate, / Gently attempered, and disposed so well, / That still it breathed forth sweet spirit .

(obsolete) A rough breathing; an aspirate, such as the letter h ; also, a mark denoting aspiration.

* Ben Jonson

Be it a letter or spirit , we have great use for it.

Intent; real meaning; opposed to the letter, or formal statement.

the spirit of an enterprise, or of a document

(alchemy, obsolete) Any of the four substances: sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, and arsenic (or, according to some, orpiment).

* Chaucer

the four spirits and the bodies seven

(dyeing) stannic chloride

Noun

(philosophy) An abstract archetype of a given thing, compared to which real-life examples are seen as imperfect approximations; pure essence, as opposed to actual examples.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-10-19, volume=409, issue=8858, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Trouble at the lab , passage=The idea that the same experiments always get the same results, no matter who performs them, is one of the cornerstones of science’s claim to objective truth. If a systematic campaign of replication does not lead to the same results, then either the original research is flawed (as the replicators claim) or the replications are (as many of the original researchers on priming contend). Either way, something is awry.}}

(obsolete) The conception of someone or something as representing a perfect example; an ideal.

(obsolete) The form or shape of something; a quintessential aspect or characteristic.

*, II.6:

The remembrance whereof (which yet I beare deepely imprinted in my minde) representing me her visage and Idea so lively and so naturally, doth in some sort reconcile me unto her.

An image of an object that is formed in the mind or recalled by the memory.

More generally, any result of mental activity; a thought, a notion; a way of thinking.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3 , passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}

* 1952 , (Alfred Whitney Griswold)

Ideas won't go to jail.

A conception in the mind of something to be done; a plan for doing something, an (l).

* , chapter=3

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}

A vague or fanciful (l); a feeling or hunch; an impression.

(music) A musical theme or melodic subject.