Adjacent Words

Galvanism definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GAL'VANISM, n. [from Galvani of Bologna, the discover.]
Electrical phenomena in which the electricity is developed without the aid of friction, and in which a chimical action takes place between certain bodies.
Galvanism is heat, light, electricity and magnetism, united in combination or in simultaneous action; sometimes one and sometimes another of them predominating, and thus producing more or less all the effects of each: usual means of excitement, contact of dissimilar bodies, especially of metals and fluids.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: electricity produced by chemical action
2: the therapeutic application of electricity to the body (as in the treatment of various forms of paralysis) [syn: electrotherapy, galvanism, electric healing, electrical healing]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French or Italian; French galvanisme, from Italian galvanismo, from Luigi Galvani Date: 1797 1. a direct current of electricity especially when produced by chemical action 2. the therapeutic use of direct electric current (as for pain relief) 3. vital or forceful activity

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. hist. 1 electricity produced by chemical action. 2 the use of electricity for medical purposes. Derivatives: galvanist n. Etymology: F galvanisme f. L. Galvani, It. physiologist d. 1798

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Voltaism Vol"ta*ism, n. [Cf. F. volta["i]sme.] (Physics) That form of electricity which is developed by the chemical action between metals and different liquids; voltaic electricity; also, the science which treats of this form of electricity; -- called also galvanism, from Galvani, on account of his experiments showing the remarkable influence of this agent on animals.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Galvanism Gal"va*nism, n. [From Galvani: cf. F. galvanisme. See Galvanic.] (Physics) (a) Electricity excited by the mutual action of certain liquids and metals; dynamical electricity. (b) The branch of physical science which treats of dynamical elecricity, or the properties and effects of electrical currents. Note: The words galvanism and galvanic, formerly in very general use, are now rarely employed. For the latter, voltaic, from the name of Volta, is commonly used.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Voltaic electricity, galvanic electricity, chemico-electricity, dynamic electricity.