animus

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

animus
    n 1: a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility [syn:
         {animosity}, {animus}, {bad blood}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Animus \An"i*mus\, n.; pl. {Animi}. [L., mind.]
   Animating spirit; intention; temper.
   [1913 Webster]

   {nimus furandi} [L.] (Law), intention of stealing.
      [1913 Webster]

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Animus

   ["Constraint-Based Animation: The Implementation of Temporal
   Constraints in the Animus System", R. Duisberg, PhD Thesis U
   Washington 1986].

   (1995-11-24)

from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

ANIMUS. The intent; the mind with which a thing is done, as animus
cancellandi, the intention of cancelling; animus farandi, the intention of
stealing; animus maiaendi, the intention of remaining; animus morandi, the
intention or purpose of delaying.
    2. Whether the act of a man, when in appearance criminal, be so or not,
depends upon the intention with which it was done. Vide Intention.

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

138 Moby Thesaurus words for "animus":
      acrimony, afflatus, aim, ambition, anima, animating spirit,
      animation, animosity, antagonism, antipathy, appetence, appetency,
      appetite, aptitude, aspiration, bad blood, bent, bias,
      bitter feeling, bitterness, cast, character, choice, command,
      conation, conatus, constitution, counsel, decision, desideration,
      desideratum, design, desire, determination, diathesis, discretion,
      discrimination, disposition, divine afflatus, eccentricity, effect,
      elan vital, enlivenment, exhilaration, fancy, feud, fire, firing,
      fixed purpose, free choice, free will, function, genius, grain,
      grudge, hard feelings, hostility, idea, idiosyncrasy, ill blood,
      ill feeling, ill will, inclination, individualism, infection,
      infusion, inspiration, intendment, intent, intention, kidney,
      leaning, liking, lust, make, makeup, meaning, mental set, mettle,
      mind, mind-set, mold, motive, moving spirit, nature, nisus,
      objective, passion, plan, pleasure, pneuma, point, predilection,
      predisposition, preference, prejudice, proclivity, project,
      propensity, proposal, prospectus, psyche, purpose, rancor,
      resolution, resolve, sake, set, sexual desire, slant, soreness,
      sourness, spirit, stamp, strain, streak, stripe, striving, study,
      temper, temperament, tendency, turn, turn of mind, twist, type,
      velleity, vendetta, venom, view, virulence, vital force, vitriol,
      volition, warp, will, will power, wish