nisus

English

Etymology

From Latin nīsus (“pressure, exertion”).

Noun

nisus

1. A mental or physical effort to attain a specific goal; a striving.
   • 1992, J.G. Hart, The Person and the Common Life: Studies in a Husserlian Social Ethics, page 363:

     The godly personality of a higher order, as the telos of the nisus of moral categoriality, is the sensus plenior of the nisus to a universal communalization of perspectives.

   • 2006, Errol E. Harris, Reflections on the Problem of Consciousness, page 158:

     The immanent nisus to completion, therefore, drives the complex to the explication of its internal relations so that they become recognizable as such.

2. The periodic procreative desire manifested in the spring by birds, etc.
3. The contraction of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to evacuate faeces or urine.
   • 1833, James O' Beirne, New Views on the Process of Defecation, and Their Application to the Pathology and Treatment of Diseases of the Stomach, Bowels, and Other Organs, quoted in 1833, John Johnson (editor), The Medico-Chirurgical Review, New Series: Volume 19 (Volume 23 of the Analytical Series), page 7,

     The evacuation of the rectum and bladder being completed, immediately the nisus ceases, the rectum and the sphincters return to their former state of contraction, the diaphragm reascends, carrying with it and restoring to their proper situations the liver, the stomach, the spleen, the small intestines, the cæcum, and the ascending, transverse and descending portions of the colon.

Anagrams

• Sunis, sinus

Estonian

Noun

nisus

1. inessive singular of nisu

Latin

Alternative forms

• nīxus

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈniː.sus/, [ˈniːs̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈni.sus/, [ˈniːs̬us]

Etymology 1

From nītor +‎ -tus.

Noun

nīsus m (genitive nīsūs); fourth declension

1. pressure (downward push)
2. exertion

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nīsus	nīsūs
Genitive	nīsūs	nīsuum
Dative	nīsuī	nīsibus
Accusative	nīsum	nīsūs
Ablative	nīsū	nīsibus
Vocative	nīsus	nīsūs

Etymology 2

Perfect participle of nītor.

Participle

nīsus (feminine nīsa, neuter nīsum); first/second-declension participle

1. Alternative form of nīxus

Etymology 3

From Ancient Greek Νῖσος (Nîsos).

Noun

nīsus m (genitive nīsī); second declension

1. sea-eagle
2. sparrowhawk

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nīsus	nīsī
Genitive	nīsī	nīsōrum
Dative	nīsō	nīsīs
Accusative	nīsum	nīsōs
Ablative	nīsō	nīsīs
Vocative	nīse	nīsī

References

• “nisus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nisus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• nisus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) if I am not mistaken: nisi fallor
    
  • (ambiguous) if I am not mistaken: nisi (animus) me fallit
    
  • (ambiguous) unless I'm greatly mistaken: nisi omnia me fallunt
    
  • (ambiguous) to except the fact that..: praeterquam quod or nisi quod
    
• “nisus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[2]
• “nisus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nisus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray