Vigour
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɪɡə(r)
Origin
From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman vigour, from Old French vigor, from Latin vigor, from vigeo ("thrive, flourish"), from Proto-Indo-European.
Related to vigil, and more distantly compare vis and vital, from similar Proto-Indo-European roots and meanings (lively, power, life), via Latin.
Full definition of vigour
Noun
vigour
(countable and uncountable; plural vigours)- Active strength or force of body or mind; capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; force; energy.
- unknown date John Dryden:The vigour of this arm was never vain.
- (biology) Strength or force in animal or force in animal or vegetable nature or action.A plant grows with vigour.
- Strength; efficacy; potency.
- 1667, :But in the fruithful earth ... His beams, unactive else, their vigour find.
Usage notes
Vigour and its derivatives commonly imply active strength, or the power of action and exertion, in distinction from passive strength, or strength to endure.