galvanism
Americannoun
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Electricity. electricity, especially as produced by chemical action.
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Medicine/Medical. the therapeutic application of electricity to the body.
noun
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obsolete electricity, esp when produced by chemical means as in a cell or battery
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med treatment involving the application of electric currents to tissues
Etymology
Origin of galvanism
1790–1800; < French galvanisme, named after Luigi Galvani; -ism
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.
Hatch Escapes fictionalized Shelley’s research process for “Frankenstein,” having her in the game study under a scientist to learn about anatomy and galvanism.
From Los Angeles Times
The term's namesake, Luigi Galvani, believed that galvanism confirmed his theory of a form of energy called "animal electricity" that gives living things their life force.
From Salon
Initially unable to come up with an idea, Mary Shelley then had a “waking dream” in which she imagined a corpse reanimated by “galvanism,” or electricity.
From New York Times
Writing her imaginary story of a being jolted to life by Victor Frankenstein, Mary drew on the cutting-edge science of her time, including galvanism and electricity.
From Economist
She explicates how trailblazing discoveries in galvanism, chemistry and anatomy helped to form the bones of the book, while its heart beat to the rhythm of Shelley’s radical intellectual lineage and milieu.
From Nature
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.
