Instinct

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·vt To impress, as an animating power, or instinct.

II. Instinct ·adj A natural aptitude or knack; a predilection; as, an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct.

III. Instinct ·adj Urged or stimulated from within; naturally moved or impelled; imbued; animated; alive; quick; as, birds instinct with life.

IV. Instinct ·adj Specif., the natural, unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance of any action, without of improvement in the method.

V. Instinct ·adj Natural inward impulse; unconscious, involuntary, or unreasoning prompting to any mode of action, whether bodily, or mental, without a distinct apprehension of the end or object to be accomplished.