Other forms: galvanized; galvanizing; galvanizes
The verb galvanize means to stimulate or incite someone into taking action. Your impassioned speech might galvanize the other members of the Ecology Club to start a school-wide recycling initiative.
The word galvanize initially meant "to stimulate muscles by administering electric shocks." It was coined to honor the 18th-century scientist Luigi Galvani, who found that a spark could make a frog's legs move. This discovery of "animal electricity" inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, (a novel in which a mad scientist attempts to use electricity to galvanize a monster to life). Galvanize also means to cover steel or iron with zinc so it doesn’t rust.