Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
FAVORER — FEIGNEDLY
FAVORER, n. One who favors; one who regards with kindness or friendship; a wellwisher; one who assists or promotes success or prosperity.
FAVORING, ppr. Regarding with friendly dispositions; countenancing; wishing well to; contributing to success; facilitating.
FAVORITE, n.
A person or thing regarded with peculiar favor, preference and affection; one greatly beloved. Select favorites from among the discrete and the virtuous. Princes are often misled, and sometimes ruined by favorites. Gaveston and the Spencers, the favorites of Edward II, fell a sacrifice to public indignation.
FAVORITE, a. Regarded with particular kindness, affection, esteem or preference; as a favorite walk; a favorite author; a favorite child.
FAVORITISM, n.
1. The act or practice of favoring, or giving a preference to one over another.
2. The disposition to favor, aid and promote the interest of a favorite, or of one person or family, or of one class of men, to the neglect of others having equal claims.
It has been suggested that the proceeds of the foreign bills were calculated merely to indulge a spirit of favoritism to the bank of the United States.
Which consideration imposes such a necessity on the crown, as hath, in a great measure, subdued the influence of favoritism.
3. Exercise of power by favorites.
FAVORLESS, a.
1. Unfavored; not regarded with favor; having no patronage or countenance.
2. Not favoring; unpropitious.
FAVOSITE, n. [L. favus, a honey-comb.] A genus of fossil zoophytes.
FAWN, n. A young deer; a buck or doe of the first year.
FAWN, v.i. To bring forth a fawn.
FAWN, v.i. [See Fain.]
1. To court favor, or show attachment to, by frisking about one; as, a dog fawns on his master.
2. To soothe; to flatter meanly; to blandish; to court servilely; to cringe and bow to gain favor; as a fawning favorite or minion.
My love, forbear to fawn upon their frowns.
FAWN, n. A servile cringe or bow; mean flattery.
FAWNER, n. One who fawns; one who cringes and flatters meanly.
FAWNING, ppr. Courting servilely; flattering by cringing and meanness; bringing forth a fawn.
FAWNING, n. Gross flattery.
FAWNINGLY, adv. In a cringing servile way; with mean flattery.
FAXED, a. Hairy. [Not in use.]
FAY, n. A fairy; an elf.
FAY, v.i. [See Fadge.]
To fit; to suit; to unite closely with. [This is a contraction of the Teutonic word, and the same as fadge, which see. It is not an elegant word.]
FEAGUE, v.t. feeg. To beat or whip. [Not in use.]
FEAL, a. Faithful. [Infra.]
FEALTY, n. [L. fidelis.]
Fidelity to a lord; faithful adherence of a tenant or vassal to the superior of whom he holds his lands; loyalty. Under the feudal system of tenures, every vassal or tenant was bound to be true and faithful to his lord, and to defend him against all his enemies. This obligation was called his fidelity or fealty, and an oath of fealty was required to be taken by all tenants to their landlords. The tenant was called a liege man; the land, a liege fee; and the superior, liege lord. [See Liege.]
FEAR, n. [See the Verb.]
1. A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear, dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. Fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us.
Fear is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil.
2. Anxiety; solicitude.
The principal fear was for the holy temple.
3. The cause of fear.
Thy angel becomes a fear.
4. The object of fear.
Except the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me. Genesis 31:42.
5. Something set or hung up to terrify wild animals, by its color or noise. Isaiah 24:17, 18; Jeremiah 48:43, 44.
6. In scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear.
I will put my fear in their hearts. Jeremiah 32:40.
Slavish fear is the effect or consequence of guilt; it is the painful apprehension of merited punishment. Romans 8:15.
The love of God casteth out fear. 1 John 4:18.
7. The worship of God.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm 34:11.
8. The law and word of God.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. Psalm 19:9.
9. Reverence; respect; due regard.
Render to all their dues; fear to whom fear. Romans 13:7.
FEAR, v.t. [L. vereor.]
1. To feel a painful apprehension of some impending evil; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude. We fear the approach of an enemy or of a storm. We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins.
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Psalm 23:4.
2. To reverence; to have a reverential awe; to venerate.
This do, and live: for I fear God. Genesis 42:18.
3. To affright; to terrify; to drive away or prevent approach by fear, or by a scarecrow. [This seems to be the primary meaning, but now obsolete.]
We must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to fear the birds of prey.
FEAR, v.i. To be in apprehension of evil; to be afraid; to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3.
Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Genesis 15:1.
FEAR, n. A companion. [Not in use. See Peer.]
FEARED, pp. Apprehended or expected with painful solicitude; reverenced.
FEARFUL, a.
1. Affected by fear; feeling pain in expectation of evil; apprehensive with solicitude; afraid. I am fearful of the consequences of rash conduct. Hence,
2. Timid; timorous; wanting courage.
What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Deuteronomy 20:8.
3. Terrible; impressing fear; frightful; dreadful.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31.
4. Awful; to be reverenced.
O Lord, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises? Exodus 15:11.
That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, Jehovah, thy God. Deuteronomy 28:58.
FEARFULLY, adv.
1. Timorously; in fear.
In such a night did Thisbe fearfully o’ertrip the dew.
2. Terribly; dreadfully; in a manner to impress terror.
There is a cliff, whose high and bending head looks fearfully on the confined deep.
3. In a manner to impress admiration and astonishment.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14.
FEARFULNESS, n.
1. Timorousness; timidity.
2. State of being afraid; awe; dread.
A thing that makes a government despised, is fearfulness of, and mean compliances with, bold popular offenders.
3. Terror; alarm; apprehension of evil.
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Isaiah 33:14.
FEARLESS, a.
1. Free from fear; as fearless of death; fearless of consequences.
2. Bold; courageous; intrepid; undaunted; as a fearless hero; a fearless foe.
FEARLESSLY, adv. Without fear; in a bold or courageous manner; intrepidly. Brave men fearlessly expose themselves to the most formidable dangers.
FEARLESSNESS, n. Freedom from fear; courage; boldness; intrepidity.
He gave instances of an invincible courage and fearlessness in danger.
FEASIBILITY, n. s as z. [See Feasible.] The quality of being capable of execution; practicability. Before we adopt a plan, let us consider its feasibility.
FEASIBLE, a. s as z. [L. facere.]
1. That may be done, performed, executed or effected; practicable. We say a thing is feasible, when it can be effected by human means or agency. A thing may be possible, but not feasible.
2. That may be used or tilled, as land.
FEASIBLE, n. That which is practicable; that which can be performed by human means.
FEASIBLENESS, n. Feasibility; practicability.
FEASIBLY, adv. Practicably.
FEAST, n. [L. festum.]
1. A sumptuous repast or entertainment, of which a number of guests partake; particularly, a rich or splendid public entertainment.
On Pharaoh’s birth day, he made a feast to all his servants. Genesis 40:20.
2. A rich or delicious repast or meal; something delicious to the palate.
3. A ceremony of feasting; joy and thanksgiving on stated days, in commemoration of some great event, or in honor of some distinguished personage; an anniversary, periodical or stated celebration of some event; a festival; as on occasion of the games in Greece, and the feast of the passover, the feast of Pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles among the Jews.
4. Something delicious and entertaining to the mind or soul; as the dispensation of the gospel is called a feast of fat things. Isaiah 25:6.
5. That which delights and entertains.
He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15.
In the English church, feasts are immovable or movable; immovable, when they occur on the same day of the year, as Christmas day, etc.; and movable, when they are not confined to the same day of the year, as Easter, which regulates many others.
FEAST, v.i.
1. To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions; particularly in large companies, and on public festivals.
And his sons went and feasted in their houses. Job 1:4.
2. To be highly gratified or delighted.
FEAST, v.t.
1. To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table magnificently; as, he was feasted by the king.
2. To delight; to pamper; to gratify luxuriously; as, to feast the soul.
Whose taste or smell can bless the feasted sense.
FEASTED, pp. Entertained sumptuously; delighted.
FEASTER, n.
1. One who fares deliciously.
2. One who entertains magnificently.
FEASTFUL, a.
1. Festive; joyful; as a feastful day or friend.
2. Sumptuous, luxurious; as feastful rites.
FEASTING, ppr.
1. Eating luxuriously; faring sumptuously.
2. Delighting; gratifying.
3. Entertaining with a sumptuous table.
FEASTING, n. An entertainment.
FEASTRITE, n. Custom observed in entertainments.
FEAT, n. [L. factum, from facio, to perform.]
1. An act; a deed; an exploit; as a bold feat; a noble feat; feats of prowess.
2. In a subordinate sense, any extraordinary act of strength, skill or cunning, as feats of horsemanship, or of dexterity; a trick.
FEAT, a. Ready; skilful; ingenious.
Never master had a page - so feat.
FEAT, v.t. To form; to fashion.
FEATEOUS, a. Neat; dextrous.
FEATEOUSLY, adv. Neatly; dextrously. Obs.
FEATHER, FETHER, n.
1. A plume; a general name of the covering of fowls. The smaller fethers are used for the filling of beds; the larger ones, called quills, are used for ornaments of the head, for writing pens, etc. The fether consists of a shaft or stem, corneous, round, strong and hollow at the lower part, and at the upper part, filled with pith. On each side of the shaft are the vanes, broad on one side and narrow on the other, consisting of thin lamins. The fethers which cover the body are called the plumage; the fethers of the wings are adapted to flight.
2. Kind; nature; species; from the proverbial phrase, “Birds of a fether,” that is, of the same species. [Unusual.]
I am not of that feather to shake off my friend, when he most needs me.
3. An ornament; an empty title.
4. On a horse, a sort of natural frizzling of the hair, which, in some places, rises above the lying hair, and there makes a figure resembling the tip of an ear of wheat.
A fether in the cap, is an honor, or mark of distinction.
FEATHER, FETHER, v.t.
1. To dress in fethers; to fit with fethers, or to cover with fethers.
2. To tread as a cock.
3. To enrich; to adorn; to exalt.
The king cared not to plume his nobility and people, to feather himself.
To fether one’s nest, to collect wealth, particularly from emoluments derived from agencies for others; a proverb taken from birds which collect fethers for their nests.
FEATHER-BED, FETHER-BED, n. A bed filled with fethers; a soft bed.
FEATHER-DRIVER, FETHER-DRIVER, n. One who beats fethers to make them light or loose.
FEATHERED, FETHERED, pp.
1. Covered with fethers; enriched.
2. a. Clothed or covered with fethers. A fowl or bird is a fethered animal
Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury.
3. Fitted or furnished with fethers; as a fethered arrow.
4. Smoothed, like down or fethers.
5. Covered with things growing from the substance; as land fethered with trees.
FEATHEREDGE, FETHEREDGE, n. An edge like a fether.
A board that has one edge thinner than the other, is called featheredge stuff.
FEATHEREDGED, FETHEREDGED, a. Having a thin edge.
FEATHER-FEW, A corruption of feverfew.
FEATHER-GRASS, FETHER-GRASS, n. A plant, gramen plumosum.
FEATHERLESS, FETHERLESS, a. Destitute of fethers; unfledged.
FEATHERLY, FETHERLY, a. Resembling fethers. [Not used.]
FEATHER-SELLER, FETHER-SELLER, n. One who sells fethers for beds.
FEATHERY, FETHERY, a.
1. Clothed or covered with fethers.
2. Resembling fethers.
FEATLY, adv. [from feat.] Neatly; dextrously; adroitly. [Little used.]
FEATNESS, n. [from feat.] Dexterity; adroitness; skillfulness. [Little used.]
FEATURE, n. [L. factura, a making, from facio, to make.]
1. The make, form or cast of any part of the face; any single lineament. We speak of large features or small features. We see a resemblance in the features of a parent and of a child.
2. The make or cast of the face.
Report the feature of Octavia, her years.
3. The fashion; the make; the whole turn or cast of the body.
4. The make or form of any part of the surface of a thing, as of a country or landscape.
5. Lineament; outline; prominent parts; as the features of a treaty.
FEATURED, a. Having features or good features; resembling in features.
FEAZE, v.t. To untwist the end of a rope.
FEBRIFACIENT, a. [L. febris, a fever, and facio, to make.] Causing fever.
FEBRIFACIENT, n. That which produces fever.
FEBRIFIC, a. [L. febris, fever, and facio, to make.] Producing fever; feverish.
FEBRIFUGE, n. [L. febris, fever, and fugo, to drive away.]
Any medicine that mitigates or removes fever.
FEBRIFUGE, a. Having the quality of mitigating or subduing fever; antifebrile.
FEBRILE, a. [L. febrilis, from febris, fever.]
Pertaining to fever; indicating fever, or derived from it; as febrile symptoms; febrile action.
FEBRUARY, n. [L. Februarius. The Latin word is said to be named from februo, to purify by sacrifice, and thus to signify the month of purification, as the people were, in this month, purified by sacrifices and oblations. The word februo is said to be a Sabine word, connected with ferveo, ferbeo, to boil, as boiling was used in purifications.]
This practice bears a resemblance to that of making atonement among the Jews; but the connection between ferveo and February is doubtful.
The name of the second month in the year, introduced into the Roman calendar by Numa. In common years, this month contains 28 days; in the bissextile or leap year, 29 days.
FEBRUATION, n. Purification. [See February.]
FECAL, a. [See Feces.] Containing or consisting of dregs, lees, sediment or excrement.
FECES, n. plu. [L. faces.]
1. Dregs; lees; sediment; the matter which subsides in casks of liquor.
2. Excrement.
FECIAL, a. [L. fecialis.] Pertaining to heralds and the denunciation of war to an enemy; as fecial law.
FECULA, n.
1. The green matter of plants; chlorophyll.
2. Starch or farina; called also amylaceous fecula.
This term is applied to any pulverulent matter obtained from plants by simply breaking down the texture, washing with water, and subsidence. Hence its application to starch and the green fecula, though entirely different in chimical properties.
FECULENCE, FECULENCY, n. [L. faeculentia, from facula, faces, fax, dregs.]
1. Muddiness; foulness; the quality of being foul with extraneous matter or lees.
2. Lees; sediment; dregs; or rather the substances mixed with liquor, or floating in it, which, when separated and lying at the bottom, are called lees, dregs or sediment. The refining or fining of liquor is the separation of it from its feculencies.
FECULENT, a. Foul with extraneous or impure substances; muddy; thick; turbid; abounding with sediment or excrementitious matter.
FECULUM, n. [from faces, supra.] A dry, dusty, tasteless substance obtained from plants. [This should be fecula.]
FECUND, a. [L. facundus, from the root of faetus.] Fruitful in children; prolific.
FECUNDATE, v.t.
1. To make fruitful or prolific.
2. To impregnate; as, the pollen of flowers fecundates the stigma.
FECUNDATED, pp. Rendered prolific or fruitful; impregnated.
FECUNDATING, ppr. Rendering fruitful; impregnating.
FECUNDATION, n. The act of making fruitful or prolific; impregnation.
FECUNDIFY, v.t. To make fruitful; to fecundate. [Little used.]
FECUNDITY, n. [L. faecunditas.]
1. Fruitfulness; the quality of producing fruit; particularly, the quality in female animals of producing young in great numbers.
2. The power of producing or bringing forth. It is said that the seeds of some plants retain their fecundity forty years.
3. Fertility; the power of bringing forth in abundance; richness of invention.
FED, pret. and pp. of feed, which see.
FEDERAL, a. [from L. faedus, a league, allied perhaps to Eng. wed. L. vas, vadis, vador, vadimonium. See Heb. to pledge.]
1. Pertaining to a league or contract; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, particularly between nations.
The Romans, contrary to federal right, compelled them to part with Sardinia.
2. Consisting in a compact between parties, particularly and chiefly between states or nations; founded on alliance by contract or mutual agreement; as a federal government, such as that of the United States.
3. Friendly to the constitution of the United States. [See the Noun.]
FEDERAL, FEDERALIST, n. an appellation in America, given to the friends of the constitution of the United States, at its formation and adoption, and to the political party which favored the administration of President Washington.
FEDERARY, FEDARY, n. A partner; a confederate; an accomplice. [Not used.]
FEDERATE, a. [L. faederatus.] Leagued; united by compact, as sovereignties, states or nations; joined in confederacy; as federate nations or powers.
FEDERATION, n.
1. The act of uniting in a league.
2. A league; a confederacy.
FEDERATIVE, a. uniting; joining in a league; forming a confederacy.
FEDITY, n. [L. faditas.] Turpitude; vileness. [Not in use.]
FEE, n. [L. pecu, pecus. From the use of cattle in transferring property, or from barter and payments in cattle, the word came to signify money; it signified also goods, substance in general. The word belongs to Class Bg, but the primary sense is not obvious.]
A reward or compensation for services; recompense, either gratuitous, or established by law and claimed of right. It is applied particularly to the reward of professional services; as the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk’s fees; sheriff’s fees; marriage fees, etc. Many of these are fixed by law; but gratuities to professional men are also called fees.
FEE, n. [In English, is loan. This word, fee, inland, or an estate in trust, originated among the descendants of the northern conquerors of Italy, but it originated in the south of Europe. See Feud.]
Primarily, a loan of land, an estate in trust, granted by a prince or lord, to be held by the grantee on condition of personal service, or other condition; and if the grantee or tenant failed to perform the conditions, the land reverted to the lord or donor, called the landlord, or lend-lord, the lord of the loan. A fee then is any land or tenement held of a superior on certain conditions. It is synonymous with fief and feud. All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. Fees are absolute or limited. An absolute fee or fee-simple is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple. Hence in modern times, the term fee or fee simple denotes an estate of inheritance; and in America, where lands are not generally held of a superior, a fee or fee simple is an estate in which the owner has the whole property without any condition annexed to the tenure. A limited fee is an estate limited or clogged with certain conditions; as a qualified or base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; and a conditional fee, which is limited to particular heirs.
In the United States, an estate in fee or fee simple is what is called in English law an allodial estate, an estate held by a person in his own right, and descendible to the heirs in general.
FEE-FARM, n. [fee and farm.] A kind of tenure of estates without homage, fealty or other service, except that mentioned in the feoffment, which is usually the full rent. The nature of this tenure is, that if the rent is in arrear or unpaid for two years, the feoffer and his heirs may have an action for the recovery of the lands.
FEE-TAIL, n. An estate entailed; a conditional fee.
FEE, v.t.
1. To pay a fee to; to reward. Hence,
2. To engage in one’s service by advancing a fee or sum of money to; as, to fee a lawyer.
3. To hire; to bribe.
4. To keep in hire.
FEEBLE, a. [I know not the origin of the first syllable.]
1. Weak; destitute of much physical strength; as, infants are feeble at their birth.
2. Infirm; sickly; debilitated by disease.
3. Debilitated by age or decline of life.
4. Not full or loud; as a feeble voice or sound.
5. Wanting force or vigor; as feeble efforts.
6. Not bright or strong; faint; imperfect; as feeble light; feeble colors.
7. Not strong or vigorous; as feeble powers of mind.
8. Not vehement or rapid; slow; as feeble motion.
FEEBLE, v.t. To weaken. [Not used. See Enfeeble.]
FEEBLE-MINDED, a. Weak in mind; wanting firmness or constancy; irresolute.
Comfort the feeble-minded. 1 Thessalonians 5:14.
FEEBLENESS, n.
1. Weakness of body or mind, from any cause; imbecility; infirmity; want of strength, physical or intellectual; as feebleness of the body or limbs; feebleness of the mind or understanding.
2. Want of fullness or loudness; as feebleness of voice.
3. Want of vigor or force; as feebleness of exertion, or of operation.
4. Defect of brightness; as feebleness of light or color.
FEEBLY, adv. Weakly; without strength; as, to move feebly.
Thy gentle numbers feebly creep.
FEED, v.t. pret. and pp. [See Father.]
1. To give food to; as, to feed an infant; to feed horses and oxen.
2. To supply with provisions. We have flour and meat enough to feed the army a month.
3. To supply; to furnish with any thing of which there is constant consumption, waste or use. Springs, feed ponds, lakes and rivers; ponds and streams feed canals. Mills are fed from hoppers.
4. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.
5. To nourish; to cherish; to supply with nutriment; as, to feed hope or expectation; to feed vanity.
6. To keep in hope or expectation; as, to feed one with hope.
7. To supply fuel; as, to feed a fire.
8. To delight; to supply with something desirable; to entertain; as, to feed the eye with the beauties of a landscape.
9. To give food or fodder for fattening; to fatten. The county of Hampshire, in Massachusetts, feeds a great number of cattle for slaughter.
10. To supply with food, and to lead, guard and protect; a scriptural sense.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. Isaiah 40:11.
FEED, v.i.
1. To take food; to eat.
2. To subsist by eating; to prey. Some birds feed on seeds and berries, others on flesh.
3. To pasture; to graze; to place cattle to feed. Exodus 22:5.
4. To grow fat.
FEED, n.
1. Food; that which is eaten; pasture; fodder; applied to that which is eaten by beasts, not to the food of men. The hills of our country furnish the best feed for sheep.
2. Meal, or act of eating.
For such pleasure till that hour at feed or fountain never had I found.
FEEDER, n.
1. One that gives food, or supplies nourishment.
2. One who furnishes incentives; an encourager.
The feeder of my riots.
3. One that eats or subsists; as, small birds are feeders on grain or seeds.
4. One that fattens cattle for slaughter.
5. A fountain, stream or channel that supplies a main canal with water.
Feeder of a vein, in mining, a short cross vein.
FEEDING, ppr. Giving food or nutriment; furnishing provisions; eating; taking food or nourishment; grazing; supplying water or that which is constantly consumed; nourishing; supplying fuel or incentives.
FEEDING, n. Rich pasture.
FEEL, v.t. pret. and pp. felt. [L. palpo. the primary sense is to touch, to pat, to strike gently, or to press, as is evident from the L. palpito, and other derivatives of palp. If so, the word seems to be allied to L. pello.]
1. To perceive by the touch; to have sensation excited by contact of a thing with the body or limbs.
Suffer me that I may feel the pillars. Judges 16:26.
Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son. Genesis 27:21.
2. To have the sense of; to suffer or enjoy; as, to feel pain; to feel pleasure.
3. To experience; to suffer.
Whoso keepeth the commandments shall feel no evil thing. Ecclesiastes 8:5.
4. To be affected by; to perceive mentally; as, to feel grief or woe.
Would I had never trod this English earth, or felt the flatteies that grow upon it.
5. To know; to be acquainted with; to have a real and just view of.
For then, and not till then, he felt himself.
6. To touch; to handle; with or without of.
Feel this piece of silk, or feel of it.
To feel, or to feel out, is to try; to sound; to search for; to explore; as, to feel or feel out one’s opinions or designs.
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 17:27.
FEEL, v.i.
1. To have perception by the touch, or by the contact of any substance with the body.
2. To have the sensibility or the passions moved or excited. The good man feels for the woes of others.
3. To give perception; to excite sensation.
Blind men say black feels rough, and white feels smooth.
So, we say, a thing feels soft or hard, or it feels hot or cold.
4. To have perception mentally; as, to feel hurt; to feel grieved; to feel unwilling.
FEEL, n. The sense of feeling, or the perception caused by the touch. The difference of tumors may be ascertained by the feel. Argillaceous stones may sometimes be known by the feel. [In America, feeling is more generally used; but the use of feel is not uncommon.]
FEELER, n.
1. One who feels.
2. One of the palpi of insects. The feelers of insects are usually four or six, and situated near the mouth. They are filiform and resemble articulated, movable antennae. They are distinguished from antennae or horns, by being short, naked and placed near the mouth. They are used in searching for food.
This tern is also applied to the antennae or horns of insects.
FEELING, ppr.
1. Perceiving by the touch; having perception.
2. a. Expressive of great sensibility; affecting; tending to excite the passions. He made a feeling representation of his wrongs. He spoke with feeling eloquence.
3. Possessing great sensibility; easily affected or moved; as a feeling man; a feeling heart.
4. Sensibly or deeply affected; as, I had a feeling sense of his favors. [This use is not analogical, but common.]
FEELING, n.
1. The sense of touch; the sense by which we perceive external objects which come in contact with the body, and obtain ideas of their tangible qualities; one of the five senses. It is by feeling we know that a body is hard or soft, hot or cold, wet or dry, rough or smooth.
2. Sensation; the effect of perception.
The apprehension of the good gives but the greater feeling to the worse.
3. Faculty or power of perception; sensibility.
Their king, out of a princely feeling, was sparing and compassionate towards his subjects.
4. Nice sensibility; as a man of feeling.
5. Excitement; emotion.
FEELINGLY, adv.
1. With expression of great sensibility; tenderly; as, to speak feelingly.
2. So as to be sensibly felt.
These are counselors, that feelingly persuade me what I am.
FEESE, n. A race. [Not in use.]
FEET, n. plu of foot. [See Foot.]
FEETLESS, a. Destitute of feet; as feetless birds.
FEIGN, v.t. fane. [L. fingo. The Latin forms fictum, fictus, whence figura, figure, also fucus.]
1. To invent or imagine; to form an idea or conception of something not real.
There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. Nehemiah 6:8.
2. To make a show of; to pretend; to assume a false appearance; to counterfeit.
I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner. 2 Samuel 14:2.
She feigns a laugh.
3. To represent falsely; to pretend; to form and relate a fictitious tale.
The poet did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods.
4. To dissemble; to conceal. Obs.