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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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INSTINCT', a. [L. instinctus. See the Noun.]
Moved; animated; excited; as instinct with spirit.
Urged or stimulated from within; naturally
moved or impelled; imbued; animated; alive; quick; as, birds
instinct with life.
The chariot of paternal deity . . . A noble performance, instinct with sound principle. Brougham. 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.
An instinct is a propensity prior to experience, and independent of instructions. Paley. An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads. Whately. An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge. Sir W. Hamilton. By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Specif., the natural,
unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance
of any action, without thought of improvement in the
method.
The resemblance between what originally was a habit, and an instinct becomes so close as not to be distinguished. Darwin. A natural aptitude or knack; a
predilection; as, an instinct for order; to be modest by
instinct.
To impress, as an animating power, or
instinct.
[Obs.] Bentley. | ||||||||