inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli
<noun.cognition> the spawning instinct in salmon altruistic instincts in social animals [ adj ]
(followed by `with')deeply filled or permeated
<adj.all> imbued with the spirit of the Reformation words instinct with love it is replete with misery
Instinct \In*stinct"\ ([i^]n*st[i^][ng]kt"), v. t. To impress, as an animating power, or instinct. [Obs.] --Bentley.
Instinct \In"stinct\ ([i^]n"st[i^][ng]kt), n. [L. instinctus instigation, impulse, fr. instinguere to instigate: cf. F. instinct. See {Instinct}, a.] 1. Natural inward impulse; unconscious, involuntary, or unreasoning prompting to any mode of action, whether bodily, or mental, without a distinct apprehension of the end or object to be accomplished.
An instinct is a propensity prior to experience, and independent of instructions. --Paley.
An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads. --Whately.
An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge. --Sir W. Hamilton.
By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing dangers. --Shak.
2. (Zo["o]l.) Specif., the natural, unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance of any action, without thought of improvement in the method.
The resemblance between what originally was a habit, and an instinct becomes so close as not to be distinguished. --Darwin.
3. A natural aptitude or knack; a predilection; as, an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct.
Instinct \In*stinct"\, a. [L. instinctus, p. p. of instinguere to instigate, incite; cf. instigare to instigate. Cf. {Instigate}, {Distinguish}.] Urged or stimulated from within; naturally moved or impelled; imbued; animated; alive; quick; as, birds instinct with life.
The chariot of paternal deity . . . Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed By four cherubic shapes. --Milton.
A noble performance, instinct with sound principle. --Brougham.
They have a natural instinct to run dogs and coyotes out of their territory." In simpler times, a politician, a president, could tailor his message to fit his audience, and chances were the adjustments would go unnoticed.
But we find little reason to suspect she was motivated by anything other than the motherhood instinct.
When faced with a major management change, your first instinct will be to proceed with business as usual, in the hope that your past record will ensure your future success.
Unlike the birds, we could not give way to instinct.
He also has that rare instinct for try-scoring. Opponents have not yet exploited his left-footed kicking or his head-on tackling.
"What we know by instinct is finally coming out in print, and the landscape is bleak," said Donald Lamm, chairman of W.W. Norton, which publishes about 300 titles a year and is known for serious nonfiction.
"The Africanized bee simply has a marked defensive instinct that makes it easier to irritate and more aggressive when bothered," Eres said.
And if US investors become more risk averse, their first instinct will be to drop more exotic investments abroad before familiar holdings at home. For Europe, still struggling to recover from recession, the malaise has been ill-timed.
Though an election year may have tempered Congress's instinct for excess and inaction, 98% of the Members will return in January, ready to attack a President whom they will insist has no mandate to ask them to do anything.
"In Nubia, we ride and track by instinct," he says, measuring the dew in a footprint to judge when it was made.
Still, prices of cattle futures contracts at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have slipped for several weeks on speculation that ranchers can't fight their herd instinct much longer.
Some antenna tells you: `too much voice' or `too little voice."' That instinct for acting was born early.
The value derived from the combined different backgrounds makes it well worth taking some risks. Few people have by natural instinct the ability to work well within such teams.
They know by instinct.
The League will also neuter your animal for a token fee _ $30 for a female, $20 for a male. "And if you can't afford that, it gets even cheaper," says Arms. "Free." Once in a while, workers let instinct replace checking.
That may not stop them taking advantage of this terrible instinct in others by backing the reverse takeover by Crockfords casino.
"The investment community historically has had sort of a herd instinct," he said.
It has always been assumed that insect behavior was determined by instinct, but Lewis said his tests have shown the wasps can be trained.
The characteristic instinct of the British Foreign Office for 'a narrow agenda' could not be more counter-productive.
But his observation that the Tories 'are tax-cutters by instinct' served only to remind City analysts of past pre-election give-aways.
Their killer instinct has been aroused," he said.
Reagan's gut instinct was to go in a certain direction if he heard certain things.
It's getting to the point where I now trust my first instinct.
Some producers have had to buy metal on the LME to cover commitments. Ms Rhona O'Connell at T. Hoare & Co, London stockbrokers, admits there is always the possibility that the funds might all sell at once if the herd instinct takes over.
But the witness also agreed that in a grounding, the captain's first instinct would be to get his ship afloat.
The Bundesbank knows how to stand firm - but it also has an instinct for the occasional need, when faced with overwhelming odds, to make a tactical retreat.
It is wrong because it puts the Congress of the United States on record as saying that the nation's people are by instinct and by nature racist.
It was herd instinct."
On the one hand, Microsoft's dominance of the computer software industry is on a scale calculated to arouse the old US trust-busting instinct.
And you can't blame the rope-maker for the hanging." The first instinct of thousands of investors shocked by the almost instant evaporation of their money in the October stock market crash was to sue their brokers.