spirit
B1Meanings
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1
noun
the state of a person's emotions, especially with regard to pleasure or dejection
I was in high spirits after learning I passed all my exams.
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2
verb
infuse with spirit
The company spirited them up.
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3
noun
The soul of a person or other creature.
[…] 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.
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4
noun
A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.
A wandering spirit haunts the island.
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5
noun
Enthusiasm.
School spirit is at an all-time high.
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6
noun
The manner or style of something.
In the spirit of forgiveness, we didn't press charges.
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7
noun
Intent; real meaning; opposed to the letter, or formal statement.
the spirit of an enterprise, or of a document
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8
noun
A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.
CRYSTALS of Venus or of copper, called also vitriol of Venus, is copper reduced into the form of vitriol by spirit of nitre, or by dissolving verdegris in good distilled vinegar, till the acid be saturated; it is very caustic and used to eat off proud flesh. It is also used by painters, and manufacturers, and sold under the name of distilled vinegar. See CHEMISTRY.
Etymology
From Middle English spirit, from Old French espirit (“spirit”), from Latin spīritus (“breath; spirit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Compare inspire, respire, transpire, all ultimately from Latin spīrō (“to breathe, blow, respire”). In this sense, displaced native Middle English gast (from Old English gāst), whence modern English ghost. Doublet of spiritus, spirytus, sprite, spright, and esprit.
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