AN'IMAL, n. [L. animal, from anima, air, breath, soul.]

That belongs or relates to animals; as, animal functions. Animal is distinguished from intellectual; as, animal appetites, the appetites of the body, as hunger and thirst. The animal functions, are touch, taste, motion, &c. Animal life is opposed to vegetable life. Animal is opposed also to spiritual or rational, which respects the soul and reasoning faculties; as, animal nature, spiritual nature, rational nature. Animal food may signify that food which nourishes animals; but it usually denotes food consisting of animal flesh. Animal economy is the system of laws by which the bodies of animals are governed, and depending on their organic structure. Animal spirit is a name given to the nervous fluid. Animal spirits in the plural, life, vigor, energy. Animal system, or animal kingdom, denotes the whole class of beings endowed with animal life. – Encyc. Johnson.

An organized body, endowed with life and the power of voluntary motion; a living, sensitive, locomotive body; as man is an intelligent animal. Animals are essentially distinguished from plants by the property of sensation. The contractile property of some plants, as the Mimosa, has the appearance of the effect of sensation, but it may be merely the effect of irritability. The distinction here made between animals and vegetables, may not be philosophically accurate; for we can not perhaps ascertain the precise limit between the two kinds of beings, but this is sufficiently correct for common practical purposes. The history of animals is called zoology. By way of contempt, a dull person is called a stupid animal.

1. An organized living being endowed with sensation and the power of voluntary motion, and also characterized by taking its food into an internal cavity or stomach for digestion; by giving carbonic acid to the air and taking oxygen in the process of respiration; and by increasing in motive power or active aggressive force with progress to maturity.
2. Of or relating to animals; as, animal functions.
3. One of the lower animals; a brute or beast, as distinguished from man; as, men and animals.
4. Pertaining to the merely sentient part of a creature, as distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or spiritual part; as, the animal passions or appetites.
5. Consisting of the flesh of animals; as, animal food.
   
   

   Animal magnetism. See Magnetism and Mesmerism. -- Animal electricity, the electricity developed in some animals, as the electric eel, torpedo, etc. -- Animal flower (Zoöl.), a name given to certain marine animals resembling a flower, as any species of actinia or sea anemone, and other Anthozoa, hydroids, starfishes, etc. -- Animal heat (Physiol.), the heat generated in the body of a living animal, by means of which the animal is kept at nearly a uniform temperature. -- Animal spirits. See under Spirit. -- Animal kingdom, the whole class of beings endowed with animal life. It embraces several subkingdoms, and under these there are Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, Species, and sometimes intermediate groupings, all in regular subordination, but variously arranged by different writers. The following are the grand divisions, or subkingdoms, and the principal classes under them, generally recognized at the present time: --

   
   Vertebrata, including Mammalia or Mammals, Aves or Birds, Reptilia, Amphibia, Pisces or Fishes, Marsipobranchiata (Craniota); and Leptocardia (Acrania).

   Tunicata, including the Thaliacea, and Ascidioidea or Ascidians.

   Articulata or Annulosa, including Insecta, Myriapoda, Malacapoda, Arachnida, Pycnogonida, Merostomata, Crustacea (Arthropoda); and Annelida, Gehyrea (Anarthropoda).

   
   Helminthes or Vermes, including Rotifera, Chætognatha, Nematoidea, Acanthocephala, Nemertina, Turbellaria, Trematoda, Cestoidea, Mesozea.

   Molluscoidea, including Brachiopoda and Bryozoa.

   Mollusca, including Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Pteropoda, Scaphopoda, Lamellibranchiata or Acephala.

   Echinodermata, including Holothurioidea, Echinoidea, Asterioidea, Ophiuroidea, and Crinoidea.

   Cœlenterata, including Anthozoa or Polyps, Ctenophora, and Hydrozoa or Acalephs.

   Spongiozoa or Porifera, including the sponges.

   
   Protozoa, including Infusoria and Rhizopoda.

   For definitions, see these names in the Vocabulary.