appulse
Americannoun
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energetic motion toward a point.
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the act of striking against something.
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Astronomy. the approach or occurrence of conjunction between two celestial bodies.
noun
Other Word Forms
- appulsive adjective
- appulsively adverb
Etymology
Origin of appulse
1620–30; < Latin appulsus driven to, landed (past participle of appellere ), equivalent to ap- ap- 1 + pul- (variant stem of pellere to drive, push) + -sus, variant of -tus past participle suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There had been a total solar eclipse, new comets, unusual sunspots and the only perfect lunar appulse in four centuries.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was an appulse of the moon, visible in most of North America and parts of Europe.
From Time Magazine Archive
Again the appulse, again the backward strain— Till ocean must have rest.
From Ride to the Lady And Other Poems by Cone, Helen Gray
I have heard, that if these sublime geniuses are awakened from their reveries by the appulse of external circumstances, they start, and exhibit all the perturbation and amazement of cataleptic patients.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 08 by Edgeworth, Maria
This arises from the possible appulse of the comet to the planet Pallas, whose mass, being so small, would more sensibly be disturbed by such an appulse than the earth.
From Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence by Bassnett, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
