stimulate

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To rouse to action or increased activity; excite: synonym: provoke.
• intransitive verb To increase temporarily the activity of (a body organ or system, for example).
• intransitive verb To cause to be interested or engaged.
• intransitive verb To cause to desire to have sex; arouse sexually.
• intransitive verb To excite or invigorate (a person, for example) with a stimulant.
• intransitive verb To act or serve as a stimulant or stimulus.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To prick; goad; excite, rouse, or animate to action or more vigorous exertion by some effective motive or by persuasion; spur on; incite.
• In physiology, to quicken temporarily some functional or trophic process in.
• Specifically, to affect by the use of intoxicating drinks.
• Synonyms To encourage, impel, urge, instigate, provoke, whet, foment, kindle, stir up.
• To act as a stimulus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To excite as if with a goad; to excite, rouse, or animate, to action or more vigorous exertion by some pungent motive or by persuasion.
• transitive verb (Physiol.) To excite; to irritate; especially, to excite the activity of (a nerve or an irritable muscle), as by electricity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb To encourage into action.
• verb To arouse an organism to functional activity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner
• verb cause to occur rapidly
• verb stir feelings in
• verb act as a stimulant
• verb cause to be alert and energetic
• verb provide the needed stimulus for
• verb stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of