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Impetus

1. A property possessed by a moving body in virtue of its weight and its motion; the force with which any body is driven or impelled; momentum.

momentum is the technical term, impetus its popular equivalent, yet differing from it as applied commonly to bodies moving or moved suddenly or violently, and indicating the origin and intensity of the motion, rather than its quantity or effectiveness.

2. Impulse; incentive; vigor; force.

3. The aititude through which a heavy body must fall to acquire a velocity equal to that with which a ball is discharged from a piece.

Origin: L, fr. Impetere to rush upon, attack; pref. Im- in _ petere to fall upon, seek. See Petition.