Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Zoism \Zo"ism\, n. [Gr. zwh` life + -ism.]
   1. Reverence for animal life or belief in animal powers and
      influences, as among savages.

   2. (Biol.) A doctrine, now discarded, that the phenomena of
      life are due to a peculiar vital principle; the theory of
      vital force.