inspire

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys-der.? Latin spīrō Latin īnspīrōbor. Old French espirer Old French enspirerbor. Middle English enspiren English inspire From Middle English inspiren, enspiren, from Old French inspirer, variant of espirer, from Latin īnspīrāre (“inspire”), itself a loan-translation of Biblical Ancient Greek πνέω (pnéō, “breathe”), from in + spīrō (“breathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Displaced native Old English onbryrdan (literally “to prick in”).

1. To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by inspiration.

   “Dawning day new comfort hath inspired.”

   “He knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul.”

2. To infuse into; to affect, as with a superior or supernatural influence; to fill with what animates, enlivens or exalts; to communicate inspiration to.

   “Elders should inspire children with sentiments of virtue.”

   “The captain's speech was aimed to inspire her team to victory in the final.”

3. To draw in by the operation of breathing; to inhale.

   “By means of those sulfurous coal smokes the lungs are as it were stifled and extremely oppressed, whereby they are forced to inspire and expire the air with difficulty.”

   “Everything was elaborately padded, even the Myers apparatus which was to absorb carbonic acid and replace the oxygen inspired by its tenant”

4. To infuse by breathing, or as if by breathing.
5. To breathe into; to fill with the breath; to animate.

   “Deſcend ye nine! deſcend and ſing; / The breathing inſtruments inſpire, / VVake into voice each ſilent ſtring, / And ſvveep the ſounding lyre!”

6. To spread rumour indirectly.