appulse

Etymology

From Latin appulsus.

noun

1. An energetic movement towards or against something; a push, a strike.
   [T]he vivacity of these trains of ideas, passing in the imagination, is greatly increased by […] their not being disturbed or dissevered either by the appluses of external bodies, as in surprize; or by our voluntary exertions in comparing them with our previous knowledge of things, as in reasoning upon them. 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 47
2. (astronomy) A close approach of two heavenly bodies; a conjunction or occultation.