"animal spirits" meaning in English

See animal spirits in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From Middle English spirite animal; equivalent to animal (adjective) + spirits. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|spirite animal}} Middle English spirite animal, {{compound|en|animal<pos:adjective>|spirits}} animal (adjective) + spirits Head templates: {{en-noun|p|head=animal spirits}} animal spirits pl (plural only)
  1. (medicine, now historical) The theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement. Tags: historical, plural, plural-only Categories (topical): Medicine
    Sense id: en-animal_spirits-en-noun-52HdUvw6 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English pluralia tantum Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 43 14 Disambiguation of English pluralia tantum: 27 37 36 Topics: medicine, sciences
  2. Liveliness, vivacity, a happy tendency to action. Tags: plural, plural-only
    Sense id: en-animal_spirits-en-noun-sr-mNUR1 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English pluralia tantum Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 43 14 Disambiguation of English pluralia tantum: 27 37 36
  3. (economics) After Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles. Tags: plural, plural-only Categories (topical): Economics
    Sense id: en-animal_spirits-en-noun-vSpyvMWY Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English pluralia tantum Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 43 14 Disambiguation of English pluralia tantum: 27 37 36 Topics: economics, science, sciences

Download JSON data for animal spirits meaning in English (5.5kB)

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        "1": "en",
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        "3": "spirite animal"
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      "expansion": "Middle English spirite animal",
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    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "animal<pos:adjective>",
        "3": "spirits"
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      "expansion": "animal (adjective) + spirits",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English spirite animal; equivalent to animal (adjective) + spirits.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "head": "animal spirits"
      },
      "expansion": "animal spirits pl (plural only)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Medicine",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section VI",
          "text": "His Brains will be found situated at the Head of the Os Pubis: His Animal Spirits acting more vigorously in that Part, than in the Upper Region.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1759, Lawrence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Folio Society, published 2005, page 19",
          "text": "you have all, I dare say, heard of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son &c. &c.—and a great deal to that purpose:– Well, you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's sense of his nonsense, his successes and miscarriages in this world depend upon their motions and activity [...].",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      "glosses": [
        "The theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement."
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      "id": "en-animal_spirits-en-noun-52HdUvw6",
      "links": [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(medicine, now historical) The theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ],
      "topics": [
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    {
      "categories": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Plain Label, published 1975, page 63",
          "text": "She had high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the attention of the officers, to whom her uncle's good dinners, and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1936, John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, page 161",
          "text": "Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as a result of animal spirits — of a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Liveliness, vivacity, a happy tendency to action."
      ],
      "id": "en-animal_spirits-en-noun-sr-mNUR1",
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      "tags": [
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          "kind": "topical",
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          "name": "Economics",
          "orig": "en:Economics",
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          "_dis": "27 37 36",
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        {
          "ref": "1975, Hyman P. Minsky, John Maynard Keynes, page 11",
          "text": "This flaw exists because the financial system necessary for capitalist vitality and vigor — which translates entrepreneurial animal spirits into effective demand for investment — contains the potential for runaway expansion, powered by an investment boom.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Roger S. Frantz, Two minds: intuition and analysis in the history of economic thought, page 91",
          "text": "The existence of animal spirits does not imply that \"irrational psychology\" is the controlling factor in business and economics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance, page 233",
          "text": "One of John Maynard Keynes's most famous terms, \"animal spirits,\" is another name for much the same concept as irrational exuberance",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "After Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles."
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        "(economics) After Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles."
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  "wikipedia": [
    "Animal spirits (Keynes)"
  ],
  "word": "animal spirits"
}
{
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  "etymology_text": "From Middle English spirite animal; equivalent to animal (adjective) + spirits.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section VI",
          "text": "His Brains will be found situated at the Head of the Os Pubis: His Animal Spirits acting more vigorously in that Part, than in the Upper Region.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "1759, Lawrence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Folio Society, published 2005, page 19",
          "text": "you have all, I dare say, heard of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son &c. &c.—and a great deal to that purpose:– Well, you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's sense of his nonsense, his successes and miscarriages in this world depend upon their motions and activity [...].",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "The theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement."
      ],
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        "(medicine, now historical) The theorized ‘spirits’ or physiological principles which allowed for sensation and voluntary movement."
      ],
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          "ref": "1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Plain Label, published 1975, page 63",
          "text": "She had high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the attention of the officers, to whom her uncle's good dinners, and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1936, John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, page 161",
          "text": "Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as a result of animal spirits — of a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1975, Hyman P. Minsky, John Maynard Keynes, page 11",
          "text": "This flaw exists because the financial system necessary for capitalist vitality and vigor — which translates entrepreneurial animal spirits into effective demand for investment — contains the potential for runaway expansion, powered by an investment boom.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Roger S. Frantz, Two minds: intuition and analysis in the history of economic thought, page 91",
          "text": "The existence of animal spirits does not imply that \"irrational psychology\" is the controlling factor in business and economics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance, page 233",
          "text": "One of John Maynard Keynes's most famous terms, \"animal spirits,\" is another name for much the same concept as irrational exuberance",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "After Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles."
      ],
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        "(economics) After Keynes (citation 1936, above), the emotional and intuitive factors that drive business decisions whether to make investment gambles."
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  "wikipedia": [
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}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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