AP'PETENCE,

AP'PETENCY, noun [Latin appetentia, appetens, from appeto, to desire; of ad and peto, to ask, supplicate or seek, compound. Eng. bid. The primary sense is to strain, to urge or press, or to advance. See Bid.]

1. In a general sense, desire; but especially, carnal desire; sensual appetite.

2.The disposition of organized bodies to select and imbibe such portions of matter as serve to support and nourish them, or such particles as are designed, through their agency, to carry on the animal or vegetable economy.

These lacteals have mouths, and by animal selection or appetency, they absorb such part of the fluid as is agreeable to their palate.

3. An inclination or propensity in animals to perform certain actions, as in the young to suck, in aquatic fowls to enter into water and to swim.

4. According to Darwin, animal appetency is synonymous with irritability or sensibility; as the appetency of the eye for light, of the pops to secrete milk, etc.

5. Attraction, or the tendency in bodies to move toward each other and unite.