soul
    n 1: the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an
         individual life [syn: soul, psyche]
    2: a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"
       [syn: person, individual, someone, somebody,
       mortal, soul]
    3: deep feeling or emotion [syn: soul, soulfulness]
    4: the human embodiment of something; "the soul of honor"
    5: a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre
       in the 1960s and 1970s; "soul was politically significant
       during the Civil Rights movement"

Soul \Soul\ (s[=o]l), a.
   Sole. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

Soul \Soul\, v. i. [F. so[^u]ler to satiate. See Soil to
   feed.]
   To afford suitable sustenance. [Obs.] --Warner.
   [1913 Webster]

Soul \Soul\, n. [OE. soule, saule, AS. s[=a]wel, s[=a]wl; akin
   to OFries. s?le, OS. s?ola, D. ziel, G. seele, OHG. s?la,
   s?ula, Icel. s[=a]la, Sw. sj[aum]l, Dan. siael, Goth.
   saiwala; of uncertain origin, perhaps akin to L. saeculum a
   lifetime, age (cf. Secular.)]
   1. The spiritual, rational, and immortal part in man; that
      part of man which enables him to think, and which renders
      him a subject of moral government; -- sometimes, in
      distinction from the higher nature, or spirit, of man, the
      so-called animal soul, that is, the seat of life, the
      sensitive affections and phantasy, exclusive of the
      voluntary and rational powers; -- sometimes, in
      distinction from the mind, the moral and emotional part of
      man's nature, the seat of feeling, in distinction from
      intellect; -- sometimes, the intellect only; the
      understanding; the seat of knowledge, as distinguished
      from feeling. In a more general sense, "an animating,
      separable, surviving entity, the vehicle of individual
      personal existence." --Tylor.
      [1913 Webster]

            The eyes of our souls only then begin to see, when
            our bodily eyes are closing.          --Law.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The seat of real life or vitality; the source of action;
      the animating or essential part. "The hidden soul of
      harmony." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The leader; the inspirer; the moving spirit; the heart;
      as, the soul of an enterprise; an able general is the soul
      of his army.
      [1913 Webster]

            He is the very soul of bounty!        --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Energy; courage; spirit; fervor; affection, or any other
      noble manifestation of the heart or moral nature; inherent
      power or goodness.
      [1913 Webster]

            That he wants algebra he must confess;
            But not a soul to give our arms success. --Young.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A human being; a person; -- a familiar appellation,
      usually with a qualifying epithet; as, poor soul.
      [1913 Webster]

            As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news
            from a far country.                   --Prov. xxv.
                                                  25.
      [1913 Webster]

            God forbid so many simple souls
            Should perish by the sword!           --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Now mistress Gilpin (careful soul).   --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A pure or disembodied spirit.
      [1913 Webster]

            That to his only Son . . . every soul in heaven
            Shall bend the knee.                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. A perceived shared community and awareness among
      African-Americans.
      [PJC]

   8. Soul music.
      [PJC]

   Note: Soul is used in the formation of numerous compounds,
         most of which are of obvious signification; as,
         soul-betraying, soul-consuming, soul-destroying,
         soul-distracting, soul-enfeebling, soul-exalting,
         soul-felt, soul-harrowing, soul-piercing,
         soul-quickening, soul-reviving, soul-stirring,
         soul-subduing, soul-withering, etc.
         [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Spirit; life; courage; fire; ardor.
        [1913 Webster]

   Cure of souls. See Cure, n., 2.

   Soul bell, the passing bell. --Bp. Hall.

   Soul foot. See Soul scot, below. [Obs.]

   Soul scot or

   Soul shot. [Soul + scot, or shot; cf. AS. s[=a]welsceat.]
      (O. Eccl. Law) A funeral duty paid in former times for a
      requiem for the soul. --Ayliffe.
      [1913 Webster]

Soul \Soul\ (s[=o]l), v. t.
   To indue with a soul; to furnish with a soul or mind. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

soul \soul\ (s[=o]l), a.
   By or for African-Americans, or characteristic of their
   culture; as, soul music; soul newspapers; soul food.
   [PJC]

SOUL, n.  A spiritual entity concerning which there hath been brave
disputation.  Plato held that those souls which in a previous state of
existence (antedating Athens) had obtained the clearest glimpses of
eternal truth entered into the bodies of persons who became
philosophers.  Plato himself was a philosopher.  The souls that had
least contemplated divine truth animated the bodies of usurpers and
despots.  Dionysius I, who had threatened to decapitate the broad-
browed philosopher, was a usurper and a despot.  Plato, doubtless, was
not the first to construct a system of philosophy that could be quoted
against his enemies; certainly he was not the last.
    "Concerning the nature of the soul," saith the renowned author of
_Diversiones Sanctorum_, "there hath been hardly more argument than
that of its place in the body.  Mine own belief is that the soul hath
her seat in the abdomen -- in which faith we may discern and interpret
a truth hitherto unintelligible, namely that the glutton is of all men
most devout.  He is said in the Scripture to 'make a god of his belly'
-- why, then, should he not be pious, having ever his Deity with him
to freshen his faith?  Who so well as he can know the might and
majesty that he shrines?  Truly and soberly, the soul and the stomach
are one Divine Entity; and such was the belief of Promasius, who
nevertheless erred in denying it immortality.  He had observed that
its visible and material substance failed and decayed with the rest of
the body after death, but of its immaterial essence he knew nothing. 
This is what we call the Appetite, and it survives the wreck and reek
of mortality, to be rewarded or punished in another world, according
to what it hath demanded in the flesh.  The Appetite whose coarse
clamoring was for the unwholesome viands of the general market and the
public refectory shall be cast into eternal famine, whilst that which
firmly through civilly insisted on ortolans, caviare, terrapin,
anchovies, _pates de foie gras_ and all such Christian comestibles
shall flesh its spiritual tooth in the souls of them forever and ever,
and wreak its divine thirst upon the immortal parts of the rarest and
richest wines ever quaffed here below.  Such is my religious faith,
though I grieve to confess that neither His Holiness the Pope nor His
Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury (whom I equally and profoundly
revere) will assent to its dissemination."