Chapter Sphinx to Spirited Away of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

The vital spirits, seated in the heart, on which depend the motion of the blood and animal heat.
   (3) The natural spirits, seated in the liver, on which depend the temper and “spirit of mind.”

Spirits (Elemental). There are four sorts of elemental spirits, which rule respectively over the four elements. The fire spirits are SALAMANDERS; the water spirits UNDINES (2 syl.); the air spirits SYLPHS; and the earth spirits GNOMES (1 syl.).

Spirited Away Kidnapped; allured. Kidnappers who beguiled orphans, apprentices, and others on board ship in order to sell them to planters in Barbadoes and Virginia, were called “spirits.” Mr. Doyle (English in America, p. 512) finds the word used in this sense in official papers as early an 1657. (Notes and Queries, 17th December, 1892.)