Motive
| n. | 1. | That which moves; a mover. | |||
| 2. | That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object; motivation{2}. | ||||
| 3. | (Mus.) The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also | ||||
| 4. | (Fine Arts) That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one. | ||||
| a. | 1. | Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move;
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| v. t. | 1. | To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move. | |||
| Noun | 1. |  motive - the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives"Synonyms: motivation, need |
| 2. | motive - a theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music Synonyms: motif | |
| Adj. | 1. | motive - causing or able to cause motion; "a motive force"; "motive power"; "motor energy" Synonyms: motor |
| 2. | motive - impelling to action; "it may well be that ethical language has primarily a motivative function"- Arthur Pap; "motive pleas"; "motivating arguments" Synonyms: motivating, motivative |
MOTIVE. The inducement, cause or reason why a thing is done.
2. When there is such a mistake in the motive, that had the truth been
known, the contract would pot have been made, it is generally void., For
example, if a man should, after the death of Titius, of which he was
ignorant, insure his life, the error of the motive would avoid the contract.
Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. liv. 3, c. 2, art. 1. Or, if Titius should sell to
Livius his horse, which both parties supposed to be living at some distance
from the place where the contract was made, when in fact, the horse was then
dead, the contract would be void. Poth. Vente, n. 4; 2 Kent, Com. 367. When
the contract is entered into under circumstances of clear mistake or
surprise, it will not be enforced. See the following authorities on this
subject. 1 Russ. & M. 527; 1 Ves. jr. 221; 4 Price, 135; 1 Ves. jr. 210;
Atkinson on Titl. 144. Vide Cause; Consideration.
3. The motive of prosecutions is frequently an object of inquiry,
particularly when the prosecutor is a witness, and in his case, as that of
any other witness, when the motion is ascertained to be bad, as a desire of
revenge for a real or supposed injury, the credibility of the witness will
be much weakened, though this will not alone render him incompetent. See
Evidence; Witness.