Etymology Borrowed from Middle French impulser, from Latin impulsus.
1
A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.
c. 1715-1716, Samuel Clarke, letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse.
2
A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action.
The impulse to learn drove me to study night and day.
When I saw the new book, I couldn't resist the impulse to browse through it.
3 more examples
Theſe were my natural Impulses for the undertaking: […]1685, John Dryden, transl., “Preface”, in Sylvæ: Or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, page 16:
Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one,[…].”1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
An impulse urged him to plant a sudden blow on it, by he forced himself to consider the impolicy of such an act.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 218:
3
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics The integral of force over time.
The total impulse from the impact will depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile.
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French impulser, from Latin impulsus.
1
To impel; to incite.
With that force so impulsed and prest they are carried under the deepe Ocean.1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):