- galvanize
- 1802 (galvanism dates to 1797), from Fr. galvaniser, from galvanisme "electricity produced by chemical action," formed from name of It. physicist Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) who discovered it while running currents through the legs of dead frogs. Figurative sense of "excite, stimulate (as if by electricity)" first recorded 1853. Meaning "to coat with metal by means of galvanic electricity" (especially to plate iron with tin, but now typically to plate it with zinc) is from 1839.
"He'll swear that in her dancing she cuts all others out,
Related: Galvanized; galvanizing.
Though like a Gal that's galvanized, she throws her legs about."
[Thomas Hood, "Love has not Eyes," 1845]