From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe moving spiritthe moving spiritSTART something/MAKE something START formal someone who makes something start to happen He was the moving spirit behind the founding of the union. → moving
Examples from the Corpus
the moving spirit• Rittall is regarded as the moving spirit behind the project.• That bull had been the moving spirit of the herd, a figure rather of mythic than of material dimension. 