All 3 Uses of

animate

in

The Lost Boy

Now I stare through the glass, then up at the fat, jolly, animated cartoon characters that were painted on the wall and going through the various stages of making doughnuts.
Chpt 1

animated = a moving cartoon OR (as a verb) made a moving cartoon

I thought of Mr. Ziegler and his animated "happy face" suns, which he would draw on my papers, Mrs. Woodworth's dreaded spelling tests or running to the library, where Ms. Howell played "Octopus's Garden," by the Beatles, on her record player.
Chpt 4

By early afternoon I became so bored that I'd plop down in front of the television and watch Speed Racer cartoons. When I could not stand another animated episode, I'd drag myself to my room and kill time by coloring in a coloring book she had given me.
Chpt 8 *

animated = moving cartoon

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".