Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EX-ER'TION, n.

The act of exerting or straining; the act of putting into motion or action; effort; a striving or struggling; as, an exertion of strength or power; an exertion of the limbs, of the mind or faculties. The ship was saved by great exertions of the crew. No exertions will suppress a vice which great men countenance.