All 8 Uses of

animate

in

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

She was somewhat aroused by it, knotted her hair upon her ears in order to deafen herself, and resumed her contemplation, on her knees, of the inanimate object which she had adored for fifteen years.†
Chpt 2.8.5

And, without reckoning our Pierre Gringoire, who may represent them in the fifteenth century if we succeed in bestowing upon him the distinction which he deserves, it certainly was their spirit which animated Father du Breul, when he wrote, in the sixteenth, these naively sublime words, worthy of all centuries: "I am a Parisian by nation, and a Parrhisian in language, for ~parrhisia~ in Greek signifies liberty of speech; of which I have made use even towards messeigneurs the cardinals, uncle and brother to Monsieur the Prince de Conty, always with respect to their greatness, and without offending any one of their suite, which is much to say."†
Chpt 1.1.3

It seemed as though there escaped from him, at least according to the growing superstitions of the crowd, a mysterious emanation which animated all the stones of Notre-Dame, and made the deep bowels of the ancient church to palpitate.†
Chpt 1.4.3

It is certain that a vague and indistinct desire to please the handsome officer animated them all, that his splendid uniform was the target of all their coquetries, and that from the moment he presented himself, there existed among them a secret, suppressed rivalry, which they hardly acknowledged even to themselves, but which broke forth, none the less, every instant, in their gestures and remarks.†
Chpt 2.7.1

He went and came, he beat his hands together, he ran from rope to rope, he animated the six singers with voice and gesture, like the leader of an orchestra who is urging on intelligent musicians.†
Chpt 2.7.3 *

Then it seemed to him that the church also was shaking, moving, becoming endued with animation, that it was alive; that each of the great columns was turning into an enormous paw, which was beating the earth with its big stone spatula, and that the gigantic cathedral was no longer anything but a sort of prodigious elephant, which was breathing and marching with its pillars for feet, its two towers for trunks and the immense black cloth for its housings.†
Chpt 2.9.1

Definitions:

(1) (animate as in: animated by her strong belief)
inspire, make more lively, or bring to life
(2) (animate as in: an animated cartoon)
make a moving cartoon (a film technique that uses a set of gradually changing pictures to simulate movement when played in series)
(3) (animate as in: animate v. inanimate)
alive; or (more rarely) an animal--not a plant; or (more rarely still) the degree to which as an animal feels and thinks

This sense of animate is typically contrasted with inanimate. The adjective animate describes something as being alive--such as a dog. The adjective inanimate describes something as not being alive--such as a rock.

Note that this sense of animate is pronounced differently than other senses. Most senses whether used as a noun or an adjective) rhyme with mate, but this sense rhymes more closely with mutt".