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Vital force   /vˈaɪtəl fɔrs/   Listen
noun
Force  n.  
1.
Capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term. "He was, in the full force of the words, a good man."
2.
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion; as, by force of arms; to take by force. "Which now they hold by force, and not by right."
3.
Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; an armament; troops; warlike array; often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation; the armed forces. "Is Lucius general of the forces?"
4.
(Law)
(a)
Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things; violence.
(b)
Validity; efficacy.
5.
(Physics) Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force.
Animal force (Physiol.), muscular force or energy.
Catabiotic force (Biol.), the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with the primary structures.
Centrifugal force, Centripetal force, Coercive force, etc. See under Centrifugal, Centripetal, etc.
Composition of forces, Correlation of forces, etc. See under Composition, Correlation, etc.
Force and arms (Law), an expression in old indictments, signifying violence.
In force, or Of force, of unimpaired efficacy; valid; of full virtue; not suspended or reversed. "A testament is of force after men are dead."
Metabolic force (Physiol.), the influence which causes and controls the metabolism of the body.
No force, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account; hence, to do no force, to make no account of; not to heed. (Obs.)
Of force, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. "Good reasons must, of force, give place to better."
Plastic force (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the tissues.
Vital force (Physiol.), that force or power which is inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished from the physical forces generally known.
Synonyms: Strength; vigor; might; energy; stress; vehemence; violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion. Force, Strength. Strength looks rather to power as an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the strength of timber, bodily strength, mental strength, strength of emotion, etc. Force, on the other hand, looks more to the outward; as, the force of gravitation, force of circumstances, force of habit, etc. We do, indeed, speak of strength of will and force of will; but even here the former may lean toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the latter toward the outward expression of it in action. But, though the two words do in a few cases touch thus closely on each other, there is, on the whole, a marked distinction in our use of force and strength. "Force is the name given, in mechanical science, to whatever produces, or can produce, motion." "Thy tears are of no force to mollify This flinty man." "More huge in strength than wise in works he was." "Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their orisons, and found Strength added from above, new hope to spring Out of despair."


adjective
Vital  adj.  
1.
Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.
2.
Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood. "Do the heavens afford him vital food?" "And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth."
3.
Containing life; living. "Spirits that live throughout, vital in every part."
4.
Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends; mortal. "The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part."
5.
Very necessary; highly important; essential. "A competence is vital to content."
6.
Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. (R.) "Pythagoras and Hippocrates... affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital."
Vital air, oxygen gas; so called because essential to animal life. (Obs.)
Vital capacity (Physiol.), the breathing capacity of the lungs; expressed by the number of cubic inches of air which can be forcibly exhaled after a full inspiration.
Vital force. (Biol.) See under Force. The vital forces, according to Cope, are nerve force (neurism), growth force (bathmism), and thought force (phrenism), all under the direction and control of the vital principle. Apart from the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable character, nor vital force as anything other than a form of physical energy derived from, and convertible into, other well-known forces of nature.
Vital functions (Physiol.), those functions or actions of the body on which life is directly dependent, as the circulation of the blood, digestion, etc.
Vital principle, an immaterial force, to which the functions peculiar to living beings are ascribed.
Vital statistics, statistics respecting the duration of life, and the circumstances affecting its duration.
Vital tripod. (Physiol.) See under Tripod.
Vital vessels (Bot.), a name for latex tubes, now disused. See Latex.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Vital force" Quotes from Famous Books



... spiritualized materialism of men like Huxley and Tyndall need not trouble us. It springs from the new conception of matter. It stands on the threshold of idealism or mysticism with the door ajar. After Tyndall had cast out the term "vital force," and reduced all visible phenomena of life to mechanical attraction and repulsion, after he had exhausted physics, and reached its very rim, a mighty mystery still hovered beyond him. He recognized that he had made no step toward its solution, and was forced to confess with the ...
— The Breath of Life • John Burroughs
... customs, especially their observance of every seventh day, attracted attention, and even secured a certain amount of acceptance. The Jews, therefore, even when, as a nation, they were ruined and crushed, proved themselves possessed of such vital force, of such tenacity, as to impress their conquerors with interest in, and respect for, their sabbatic customs. Of their tenacity and force in general, of their power to influence the nations amongst whom they have been scattered, the history of the last two thousand five hundred ...
— The Astronomy of the Bible - An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References - of Holy Scripture • E. Walter Maunder
... do this in regions where the same results can be obtained with a smaller outlay of vital force. We have only a certain amount of energy at our disposal. It is not seemly to consume every ounce of it in a contest with brute nature. Man is made for better things. Whatever fails to elevate the mind is not truly profitable. Tell me, sir, how ...
— South Wind • Norman Douglas
... upon the dung heap, and after various mutations, have come in contact with a clod of earth, through which they have sent their roots, and have finally grown into thrifty plants. A thought thrown out on the world, if it possesses vital force, never dies. How much is remembered of the work of our greatest men? Only a sentence here and there; and many a man whose name will go down through all the ages, owes it to the truth or the vital force of the thought embedded ...
— Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago • Canniff Haight
... of the definition which has been given. Living matter is subject to the laws which govern matter, and like matter of any other sort it is composed of atoms and molecules. There is no force inherent in living matter, no vital force independent of and differing from the cosmic forces; the energy which living matter gives off is counterbalanced by the energy which it receives. It undergoes constant change, and there is constant interchange with the environment. The molecules which compose it are constantly undergoing change ...
— Disease and Its Causes • William Thomas Councilman


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