galvanize
GAL-vuh-nizeverbMeaning to shock or excite people into action
Memory hook the GAL in the VAN jolts them awake. The gal in the van blasts her horn, and the sleepy campers leap out of their tents, ready to go. She galvanizes them.
The coach’s speech galvanized the tired team.
In context News that the old oak would be cut down galvanized the neighborhood; within a day, two hundred people had signed a petition and filled the town hall.
Similar spur, rouse, energize, jolt
Opposite discourage, dampen, deter
Named for Luigi Galvani, an Italian scientist of the 1700s who made frog muscles twitch with electric current; the word first meant to stimulate with electricity.