excite

Etymology

From Middle English exciten, from Old French exciter, from Latin excitare (“call out, call forth, arouse, wake up, stimulate”), frequentative of exciere (“call out, arouse, excite”), from ex (“out”) + ciere (“call, summon”). See cite and compare to accite, concite, incite.

verb

1. (transitive) To stir the emotions of.
   The fireworks which opened the festivities excited anyone present.
2. (transitive) To arouse or bring out (e.g. feelings); to stimulate.
   Favoritism tends to excite jealousy in the ones not being favored.
   The political reforms excited unrest among the population.
   There are drugs designed to excite certain nerves in our body.
   [S]eint Poul seith and to the Romayns he hath writen that bi heeringe of swich ringinge men haven the feith perfytliche so that he putte not the ringinge in the scrippe but it exiteth the memorie in what manere men shulden bileeue [S]aint Paul says and to the Romans he has written that by hearing of such ringing men have the faith perfectly so that he did not put the ringing in the script but it exciteth the memory in what manner men should believe] [c. 1430, Guillaume de Deguileville, chapter LXXXXIX, in [anonymous], transl., edited by William Aldis Wright, The Pilgrimage of the Lyf of the Manhode. From the French (Cambridge University Library, MS Kk.1.7) (in Middle English), London: Printed for the Roxburghe Club; J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Sons,[…], published 1869, →OCLC, 1st part, folio 39, page 54
3. (transitive, physics) To cause an electron to move to a higher than normal state; to promote an electron to an outer level.
   By applying electric potential to the neon atoms, the electrons become excited, then emit a photon when returning to normal.
4. To energize (an electromagnet); to produce a magnetic field in.
   to excite a dynamo