*feel*

v. i. 1. To have perception by the touch, or by contact of anything with the nerves of sensation, especially those upon the surface of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To have the sensibilities moved or affected. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ She ] feels with the dignity of a Roman matron. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

And mine as man, who feel for all mankind. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be conscious of an inward impression, state of mind, persuasion, physical condition, etc.; to perceive one's self to be; -- followed by an adjective describing the state, etc.; as, to feel assured, grieved, persuaded. [ 1913 Webster ]

I then did feel full sick. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To know with feeling; to be conscious; hence, to know certainly or without misgiving. [ 1913 Webster ]

Garlands . . . which I feel
I am not worthy yet to wear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To appear to the touch; to give a perception; to produce an impression by the nerves of sensation; -- followed by an adjective describing the kind of sensation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blind men say black feels rough, and white feels smooth. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

To feel after, to search for; to seek to find; to seek as a person groping in the dark. “If haply they might feel after him, and find him.” Acts xvii. 27. --
To feel of, to examine by touching. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Feeling; perception. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To intercept and have a more kindly feel of its genial warmth. Hazlitt. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sensation communicated by touching; impression made upon one who touches or handles; as, this leather has a greasy feel. [ 1913 Webster ]

The difference between these two tumors will be distinguished by the feel. S. Sharp. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, feels. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) One of the sense organs or certain animals (as insects), which are used in testing objects by touch and in searching for food; an antenna; a palp. [ 1913 Webster ]

Insects . . . perpetually feeling and searching before them with their feelers or antennæ. Derham. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Anything, as a proposal, observation, etc., put forth or thrown out in order to ascertain the views of others; something tentative. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Possessing great sensibility; easily affected or moved; as, a feeling heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Expressive of great sensibility; attended by, or evincing, sensibility; as, he made a feeling representation of his wrongs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The sense by which the mind, through certain nerves of the body, perceives external objects, or certain states of the body itself; that one of the five senses which resides in the general nerves of sensation distributed over the body, especially in its surface; the sense of touch; nervous sensibility to external objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why was the sight
To such a tender ball as the eye confined, . . .
And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An act or state of perception by the sense above described; an act of apprehending any object whatever; an act or state of apprehending the state of the soul itself; consciousness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The apprehension of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The capacity of the soul for emotional states; a high degree of susceptibility to emotions or states of the sensibility not dependent on the body; as, a man of feeling; a man destitute of feeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Any state or condition of emotion; the exercise of the capacity for emotion; any mental state whatever; as, a right or a wrong feeling in the heart; our angry or kindly feelings; a feeling of pride or of humility. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind. Garrick. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tenderness for the feelings of others. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. That quality of a work of art which embodies the mental emotion of the artist, and is calculated to affect similarly the spectator. Fairholt.

Syn. -- Sensation; emotion; passion; sentiment; agitation; opinion. See Emotion, Passion, Sentiment. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a feeling manner; pathetically; sympathetically. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To share through sympathy; to participate in. [ R. ] D. Rodgers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Sympathy; a like feeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Joint interest. [ Obs. ] Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To feel beforehand; to have a presentiment of. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

As when, with unwieldy waves, the great sea forefeels winds. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Insensate. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]