Definition of "impulse"

impulse

/ˈɪmpʌls/

noun
plural impulses
1. A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.
  Quotations
  All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse.
  c. 1715-1716, Samuel Clarke, letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
2. A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action.
  Quotations
  Theſe were my natural Impulses for the undertaking: […]
  1685, John Dryden, transl., “Preface”, in Sylvæ: Or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, page 16
  Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, […] .”
  1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict‎
  An impulse urged him to plant a sudden blow on it, by he forced himself to consider the impolicy of such an act.
  1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, page 218
3. (physics) The integral of force over time.
verb
third-person singular simple present impulses, present participle impulsing, simple past and past participle impulsed
1. (transitive) To impel; to incite.
  Quotations
  With that force so impulsed and prest they are carried under the deepe Ocean.
  1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], (please specify |book=1 to 5)