Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Inspiration

Inspiration , noun

[French inspiration, Latin inspiratio. See Inspire.]

1.
(Physiology) The act of inspiring or breathing in; breath; specif. (Physiology), the drawing of air into the lungs, accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls and flattening of the diaphragm; -- the opposite of expiration.
2.
The act or power of exercising an elevating or stimulating influence upon the intellect or emotions; the result of such influence which quickens or stimulates; as, the inspiration of occasion, of art, etc.
Your father was ever virtuous, and holy men at their death have good inspirations. — Shakespeare
3.
(Theology) A supernatural divine influence on the prophets, apostles, or sacred writers, by which they were qualified to communicate moral or religious truth with authority; a supernatural influence which qualifies men to receive and communicate divine truth; also, the truth communicated.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. — 2 Tim. iii. 16
The age which we now live in is not an age of inspiration and impulses. — Sharp
Collocations (2)
Plenary inspiration (Theology) , that kind of inspiration which excludes all defect in the utterance of the inspired message.
Verbal inspiration (Theology) , that kind of inspiration which extends to the very words and forms of expression of the divine message.