a. and sb. [ad. L. stimulantem, pr. pple. of stimulāre: see STIMULATE v. Cf. F. stimulant (18th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), Sp. estimulante, It. stimolante.]
A. adj. Having the property of stimulating.
1. = STIMULATING 1. Now rare.
1803. Southey, in Ann. Rev., I. 18. The adventurers had so much of what was stimulant as well as true to relate.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. IV. vi. This is the celebrated ‘Law of the Forty Sous’; fiercely stimulant to Sansculottism.
1875. Lowell, Wordsw., Writ. 1890, IV. 354. Religious canticles stimulant of zeal.
2. Phys. and Med.
a. Exciting an organ, or the organism, to increased activity; quickening some vital function or process. Now more commonly expressed by STIMULATING (sense 2).
1772. W. Falconer, Ess. Bath Waters, I. 399. Where the effects of the water, particularly the stimulant and astringent, are desired in their full extent, the waters are, undoubtedly, in greatest perfection drank at the fountain head. Ibid. Yet their stimulant qualities may prove too violent a shock for a tender frame to endure.
1788. J. Brown, trans. Elem. Med., I. 13, note. Those who have been accustomed to more stimulant meals.
1836–41. Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 428. Ammonia is very pungent and acrid,… but when diluted by mixture with common air, agreeably stimulant.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., II. vii. § 44. II. 316. We are now so accustomed to a more stimulant diet in fiction, that few would read it through with pleasure.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 562. Aromatic, Carminative, Stimulant, and Tonic Umbelliferæ.
b. spec. Applied to alcoholic drinks. rare. (Cf. B. 2 b.)
1872. J. G. Murphy, Comm. Lev. x. 8–11. Abstinence from stimulant drinks.
c. Acting as a stimulus (see STIMULUS 3); exciting the functional activity of an organ. (Cf. B. 2 c.) rare.
1785. Cullen, Instit. Med., I. (ed. 3), 66. Whatever can excite the contraction of muscular fibres is called a Stimulus; and in general, the means of exciting contraction are called Stimulant Powers.
1788. J. Brown, trans. Elem. Med., I. 6. The same exciting powers … ought to be denominated stimulant, or stimuli.
B. sb. Something that stimulates.
1. Something that rouses or incites to action; an incentive, a stimulus. Now rare exc. with some figurative notion of sense 2.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 30. A powerful stimulant to others, to employ their invention and ability.
1847. G. Harris, Life Ld. Hardwicke, I. 354. The pecuniary remuneration in every office of this kind, is the direct and immediate stimulant to exertion and enterprise.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 283. Even now the stimulants which he applied to his torpid and feeble party produced some faint symptoms of returning animation.
1873. Hamerton, Intell. Life, II. i. 44. The three intellectual pursuits—literature, science, and the fine arts—are all of them strong stimulants.
2. Phys. and Med. Something that temporarily quickens some vital process, or the function of some organ; a stimulant agent.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Stimulants produce Pain, Heat, Redness.
1772. W. Falconer, Ess. Bath Waters, I. 338. The Bath Waters are in general indicated as stimulants, in cases of languid motion.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 268. In disorders of an inflammatory nature, electricity, as it is a stimulant, should not be resorted to.
1831. J. Davies, Mat. Med., 134. Diffusible or general stimulants…. Such … stimulating remedies as do not appear to act … on a particular organ, but the exciting action of which is equally felt throughout the whole economy.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xiii. 347. The operation of this remarkable stimulant [nitrous oxide].
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 148. Pepper is a warm carminative stimulant.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 114. Cardiac stimulants … increase the … force of the circulation.
1882. Thos. A. Edison, in A. A. Reade, Study & Stimulants (1883), 45. When so engaged I almost invariably chew tobacco as a stimulant.
1882. A. J. Ellis, Ibid., 46. I never took tobacco in any shape or form. For twenty-five years I have taken no sort of stimulant, not even tea or coffee.
1885. Dr. Ranney, in Harper’s Mag., March, 641/2. The abuse of stimulants, in the form of alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee.
b. spec. Applied to alcoholic drinks. (The most usual current sense.)
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, xxi. 427. The … craving for stimulants.
1899. A. C. Benson, Life Abp. Benson, I. i. 10. In one of his many serious illnesses he refused all stimulants.
c. Something that excites an organ to its functional activity. (Cf. A. 2 b.) rare.
1880. Huxley, Crayfish, iii. 116. Sonorous vibrations … act as the stimulants of a special nerve.
Hence Stimulantly adv.
1814. W. Taylor, in Monthly Rev., LXXV. 161. Such sayings … when stimulantly expressed, are easily remembered.
