1. [n]  the act of applying force suddenly; "the impulse knocked him over"
2. [n]  an impelling force or strength; "the car's momentum carried it off the road"
3. [n]  the electrical discharge that travels along a nerve fiber; "they demonstrated the transmission of impulses from the cortex to the hypothalamus"
4. [n]  (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients); "the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star"
5. [n]  a sudden desire; "he bought it on impulse"
6. [n]  an instinctive motive; "profound religious impulses"

Impulse
Wealthy and captivating Rafaella Holland, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is prepared to risk everything to exact revenge on the father who abandoned her and did her mother, now in a coma, an unforgivable wrong, in a revised edition of the classic tale of romantic suspense. Reprint.

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1. \Im"pulse\, n. [L. impulsus, fr. impellere. See
   {Impel}.]
   1. The act of impelling, or driving onward with sudden force;
      impulsion; especially, force so communicated as to
      produced motion suddenly, or immediately.
            All spontaneous animal motion is performed by
            mechanical impulse.                   --S. Clarke.
   2. The effect of an impelling force; motion produced by a
      sudden or momentary force.
   3. (Mech.) The action of a force during a very small interval
      of time; the effect of such action; as, the impulse of a
      sudden blow upon a hard elastic body.
   4. A mental force which simply and directly urges to action;
      hasty inclination; sudden motive; momentary or transient
      influence of appetite or passion; propension; incitement;
      as, a man of good impulses; passion often gives a violent
      impulse to the will.
            These were my natural impulses for the undertaking.
                                                  --Dryden.
   Syn: Force; incentive; influence; motive; feeling;
        incitement; instigation.
   

2. \Im*pulse"\, v. t. [See {Impel}.]
   To impel; to incite. [Obs.] --Pope.