stimulus

This very common word is not mentioned by any English lexicographer, though it is used by good English writers. Our American lexicographers, Pickering, Webster, and Worcester, have noticed it.

1) Literally, a goad; hence something that rouses the mind or spirits; as, 'the hope of gain is a powerful stimulus to labor and action.'

2) In medicine that which produces a quickly diffused or transient increase of vital energy and strength of action in the circulating system.--Webster.

3) In vulgar use, intoxicating drink.

Those young academicians will receive, from the perusal of his book, a powerful stimulus to their ambition.--British Critic, Vol. III. p. 518.

We should expect even the voluntary productions of the pen, without this violent stimulus, to be sufficient to satisfy the expectations of the public.--Ibid., Vol. I. p. 362.