The Collaborative International Dictionary
Animal \An"i*mal\, a. [Cf. F. animal.]
Of or relating to animals; as, animal functions.
Pertaining to the merely sentient part of a creature, as distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or spiritual part; as, the animal passions or appetites.
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Consisting of the flesh of animals; as, animal food.
Animal magnetism. See Magnetism and Mesmerism.
Animal electricity, the electricity developed in some animals, as the electric eel, torpedo, etc.
Animal flower (Zo["o]l.), a name given to certain marine animals resembling a flower, as any species of actinia or sea anemone, and other Anthozoa, hydroids, starfishes, etc.
Animal heat (Physiol.), the heat generated in the body of a living animal, by means of which the animal is kept at nearly a uniform temperature.
Animal spirits. See under Spirit.
Animal kingdom, the whole class of beings endowed with animal life. It embraces several subkingdoms, and under these there are Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, Species, and sometimes intermediate groupings, all in regular subordination, but variously arranged by different writers.
Note: The following are the grand divisions, or subkingdoms, and the principal classes under them, generally recognized at the present time: Vertebrata, including Mammalia or Mammals, Aves or Birds, Reptilia, Amphibia, Pisces or Fishes, Marsipobranchiata (Craniota); and Leptocardia (Acrania). Tunicata, including the Thaliacea, and Ascidioidea or Ascidians. Articulata or Annulosa, including Insecta, Myriapoda, Malacapoda, Arachnida, Pycnogonida, Merostomata, Crustacea (Arthropoda); and Annelida, Gehyrea (Anarthropoda). Helminthes or Vermes, including Rotifera, Ch[ae]tognatha, Nematoidea, Acanthocephala, Nemertina, Turbellaria, Trematoda, Cestoidea, Mesozea. Molluscoidea, including Brachiopoda and Bryozoa. Mollusca, including Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Pteropoda, Scaphopoda, Lamellibranchiata or Acephala. Echinodermata, including Holothurioidea, Echinoidea, Asterioidea, Ophiuroidea, and Crinoidea. C[oe]lenterata, including Anthozoa or Polyps, Ctenophora, and Hydrozoa or Acalephs. Spongiozoa or Porifera, including the sponges. Protozoa, including Infusoria and Rhizopoda. For definitions, see these names in the Vocabulary.
Heat \Heat\ (h[=e]t), n. [OE. hete, h[ae]te, AS. h[=ae]tu, h[=ae]to, fr. h[=a]t hot; akin to OHG. heizi heat, Dan. hede, Sw. hetta. See Hot.]
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A force in nature which is recognized in various effects, but especially in the phenomena of fusion and evaporation, and which, as manifested in fire, the sun's rays, mechanical action, chemical combination, etc., becomes directly known to us through the sense of feeling. In its nature heat is a mode of motion, being in general a form of molecular disturbance or vibration. It was formerly supposed to be a subtile, imponderable fluid, to which was given the name caloric.
Note: As affecting the human body, heat produces different sensations, which are called by different names, as heat or sensible heat, warmth, cold, etc., according to its degree or amount relatively to the normal temperature of the body.
The sensation caused by the force or influence of heat when excessive, or above that which is normal to the human body; the bodily feeling experienced on exposure to fire, the sun's rays, etc.; the reverse of cold.
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High temperature, as distinguished from low temperature, or cold; as, the heat of summer and the cold of winter; heat of the skin or body in fever, etc.
Else how had the world . . . Avoided pinching cold and scorching heat!
--Milton. -
Indication of high temperature; appearance, condition, or color of a body, as indicating its temperature; redness; high color; flush; degree of temperature to which something is heated, as indicated by appearance, condition, or otherwise.
It has raised . . . heats in their faces.
--Addison.The heats smiths take of their iron are a blood-red heat, a white-flame heat, and a sparkling or welding heat.
--Moxon. A single complete operation of heating, as at a forge or in a furnace; as, to make a horseshoe in a certain number of heats.
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A violent action unintermitted; a single effort; a single course in a race that consists of two or more courses; as, he won two heats out of three.
Many causes . . . for refreshment betwixt the heats.
--Dryden.[He] struck off at one heat the matchless tale of ``Tam o' Shanter.''
--J. C. Shairp. Utmost violence; rage; vehemence; as, the heat of battle or party. ``The heat of their division.''
--Shak.Agitation of mind; inflammation or excitement; exasperation. ``The heat and hurry of his rage.''
--South.-
Animation, as in discourse; ardor; fervency; as, in the heat of argument.
With all the strength and heat of eloquence.
--Addison. (Zo["o]l.) Sexual excitement in animals; readiness for sexual activity; estrus or rut.
Fermentation.
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Strong psychological pressure, as in a police investigation; as, when they turned up the heat, he took it on the lam. [slang]
Animal heat, Blood heat, Capacity for heat, etc. See under Animal, Blood, etc.
Atomic heat (Chem.), the product obtained by multiplying the atomic weight of any element by its specific heat. The atomic heat of all solid elements is nearly a constant, the mean value being 6.4.
Dynamical theory of heat, that theory of heat which assumes it to be, not a peculiar kind of matter, but a peculiar motion of the ultimate particles of matter.
Heat engine, any apparatus by which a heated substance, as a heated fluid, is made to perform work by giving motion to mechanism, as a hot-air engine, or a steam engine.
Heat producers. (Physiol.) See under Food.
Heat rays, a term formerly applied to the rays near the red end of the spectrum, whether within or beyond the visible spectrum.
Heat weight (Mech.), the product of any quantity of heat by the mechanical equivalent of heat divided by the absolute temperature; -- called also thermodynamic function, and entropy.
Mechanical equivalent of heat. See under Equivalent.
Specific heat of a substance (at any temperature), the number of units of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of the substance at that temperature one degree.
Unit of heat, the quantity of heat required to raise, by one degree, the temperature of a unit mass of water, initially at a certain standard temperature. The temperature usually employed is that of 0[deg] Centigrade, or 32[deg] Fahrenheit.
Usage examples of "animal heat".
Always she'd loved the sweetish-rancid smell of straw, manure, animal feed and animal heat.
He stood directly in front of her, so close she could feel the animal heat generated by their run, smell the hot odors of sweat and man.
The spontaneous bout of lovemaking that followed was a revelation of animal heat.
A wave of animal heat struck him as he entered the dimness, and the strong odor was heady.
The men were forbidden to move around, but even if they were allowed to, they now lacked the energy to counteract the effects of the cold, and what little energy was left in their rapidly weakening bodies was so wholly occupied in forcing their laboring chest muscles to gulp in more and ever more of that foul and steadily worsening air that they had none at all left to generate sufficient animal heat to ward off that dank and bitter cold.
In the agonizing seconds that followed, Joey grasped only bits and pieces of the drama that played out before her: the low grunts and angry roars of the bear as it maneuvered to face its attacker, the snarls of the wolf that whirled like a demon about the bigger animal, and once a single yelp of pain as the massive claws struck home, the unmistakable smell of animal heat and blood, the cold caress of the snow that spattered her face.
His skin had a pleasant animal heat, and my fingers, still chilly from the stream, warmed comfortably as I ordered the soft strands of sflky chestnut hair.
The makeshift hall was stuffy and hot with the animal heat and exhalations of five hundred men.
The animal heat, produced by their great and continued exertions in travelling, had thus far prevented them, from suffering much from the cold, or perceiving its actual intensity.
At last, wrapped in their fur cloaks, the larngs forming a wall of animal heat to reflect the fire, they dozed away what was left of the night.
She smelled sour sweat from the bald head of the creature upon whose back she climbed, felt the seething animal heat.