Feel \Feel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Felt; p. pr. & vb. n. Feeling.]

[AS. f?lan; akin to OS. gif?lian to perceive, D. voelen to feel, OHG. fuolen, G. f["u]hlen, Icel. f[=a]lma to grope, and prob. to AS. folm paim of the hand, L. palma. Cf. Fumble, Palm.]

1. To perceive by the touch; to take cognizance of by means of the nerves of sensation distributed all over the body, especially by those of the skin; to have sensation excited by contact of (a thing) with the body or limbs.

Who feel Those rods of scorpions and those whips of steel. --Creecn.

2. To touch; to handle; to examine by touching; as, feel this piece of silk; hence, to make trial of; to test; often with out.

Come near, . . . that I may feel thee, my son. --Gen. xxvii. 21.

He hath this to feel my affection to your honor. --Shak.

3. To perceive by the mind; to have a sense of; to experience; to be affected by; to be sensible of, or sensetive to; as, to feel pleasure; to feel pain.

Teach me to feel another's woe. --Pope.

Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing. --Eccl. viii. 5.

He best can paint them who shall feel them most. --Pope.

Mankind have felt their strength and made it felt. --Byron.

4. To take internal cognizance of; to be conscious of; to have an inward persuasion of.

For then, and not till then, he felt himself. --Shak.

5. To perceive; to observe. [Obs.]

--Chaucer.

To feel the helm (Naut.), to obey it.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Feeling \Feel"ing\, a.

1. Possessing great sensibility; easily affected or moved; as, a feeling heart.

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

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Feeling \Feel"ing\, 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.

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

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.

The apprehension of the good Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. --Shak.

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.

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.

A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind. --Garrick.

Tenderness for the feelings of others. --Macaulay.

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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)