Emily Dickinson Lexicon

REN'I-TENCE, or REN'I-TEN-CY, n. [L. renitens, renitor, to resist; re and nitor, to struggle or strive.]

1. The resistance of a body to pressure; the effort of matter to resume the place or form from which it has been driven by the impulse of other matter; the effect of elasticity. – Quincy.
2. Moral resistance; reluctance. We find a renitency in ourselves to ascribe life and irritability to the cold and motionless fibers of plants. – Darwin.