galvanism

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gal·va·nism

(găl′və-nĭz′əm)

1. Direct-current electricity, especially when produced chemically. Also called voltaism.

2. Therapeutic application of direct-current electricity, especially the electric stimulation of nerves and muscle.

[After Luigi Galvani.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

galvanism

(ˈɡælvəˌnɪzəm)

1. (General Physics) obsolete electricity, esp when produced by chemical means as in a cell or battery

2. (Medicine) med treatment involving the application of electric currents to tissues

[C18: via French from Italian galvanismo, after Luigi Galvani]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gal•va•nism

(ˈgæl vəˌnɪz əm)

n.

1. electricity, esp. as produced by chemical action.

2. the therapeutic application of electricity to the body.

[1790–1800; < French galvanisme]

galvanism

a direct electrical current, especially one produced by chemical action. — galvanic, adj.

galvanism

[ˈgælvənɪzəm] N → galvanismo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

galvanism

n → Galvanismus m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

gal·va·nism

n. galvanismo, uso terapéutico de corriente eléctrica directa.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

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References in classic literature ?

Lydgate's only relaxation now was to go and look at this woman, just as he might have thrown himself under the breath of the sweet south on a bank of violets for a while, without prejudice to his galvanism, to which he would presently return.

Three days afterwards Lydgate was at his galvanism again in his Paris chambers, believing that illusions were at an end for him.

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On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me.

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Any part, being subjected to a slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar effect, but in a less degree, was produced by scratching the skin with a needle.

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POLARITY, or action and reaction, we meet in every part of nature; in darkness and light; in heat and cold; in the ebb and flow of waters; in male and female; in the inspiration and expiration of plants and animals; in the equation of quantity and quality in the fluids of the animal body; in the systole and diastole of the heart; in the undulations of fluids, and of sound; in the centrifugal and centripetal gravity; in electricity, galvanism, and chemical affinity.

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In a feat of choreographic galvanism, Freemantle made us believe the stool was his partner, tenderly cradling it, balancing it and rolling over it with more than enough lyricism for them both.

25 to watch

Nighttime debates concerned breakthrough scientific advances, competing theories and their controversies - Galvanism, early Darwinism (from Erasmus, not grandson Charles), and notably, "the nature of the principle of life and whether there was any probability of its ever being discovered and communicated...Perhaps a corpse would be reanimated...perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together and endued with vital warmth."

It's Still Alive: Connecting Art and Science, Past and Future to Grasp Monster Risk and Spark Innovation

The "animal electricity" of galvanism, the source of what Aurora refers to as "make-believe galvanic life," was thought to be another manifestation of the same "underlying force" contained within the "magnetic fluid" that mesmerists harnessed.

Revising Respiration: Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and the Shared Breath of Poetic Voice in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh

galvanism" of "translated books" (41) of French or German

Thomas De Quincey, Translation, and the "Philosophy of Reconstruction"

Shelley was particularly interested in galvanism, a new scientific theory that electricity could be used to stimulate or restart life.

FRANKENSTEIN 200 YEARS LATER: The story of a scientist and the creature he brought to life continues to serve as a cautionary tale for today's world

At one point in the novel he appears to die and is brought back to life through "galvanism," the same treatment by which the monster in Frankenstein is brought to life.

Varney the vampire: monster or victim?

Microbiology and surgery were in inchoate infancy, and physiology was a miasma of humours, vapours and galvanism. Brown-Sequard fostered faulty ideas about the inheritance of acquired characters, notably traumatically induced epilepsy and weakness in rats.

Noun	1.	galvanism - electricity produced by chemical action electricity - a physical phenomenon associated with stationary or moving electrons and protons
	2.	galvanism - the therapeutic application of electricity to the body (as in the treatment of various forms of paralysis) electric healing, electrical healing, electrotherapy therapy - (medicine) the act of caring for someone (as by medication or remedial training etc.); "the quarterback is undergoing treatment for a knee injury"; "he tried every treatment the doctors suggested"; "heat therapy gave the best relief" ECT, electroconvulsive therapy, electroshock, electroshock therapy - the administration of a strong electric current that passes through the brain to induce convulsions and coma