Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FEED-ING, n.

Rich pasture. Drayton.

FEED-ING, 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.

FEE'-FARM, n. [fee and farm.]

A kind of tenure of estates without homage, fealty or other service, except that mentioned in the feofiment, 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 feoffor and his heirs may have an action for the recovery of the lands. Encyc.

FEE-ING, ppr.

Retaining by a fee.

FEEL, n.

The sense of feeling, or the perception caused by the touch. The difference of tumors may be ascertained by the feel. Argillaccous stones may sometimes be known by the feel. [In America, feeling is more generally used; but the use of feel is not uncommon.]

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. Man, who feels for all mankind. Pope.
3. To give perception; to excite sensation. Blind men say black feels rough, and white feels smooth. Dryden. 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, v.t. [pret. and pp. felt. Sax. felan, fælan, gefelan; G. fühlen; D. voelen; allied probably to L. palpo. Qu. W. pwyllaw, to impel. 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 palpo. If so, the word seems to be allied to L. pello. See Class Bl, No. 8.]

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 xvi. Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son. Gen. xxvii.
2. To have the sense of; to suffer or enjoy; as, to feet pain; to feel pleasure.
3. To experience, to suffer. Whoso keepeth the commandments shall feel no evil thing. Eccles. viii.
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 flatteries that grow upon it. Shak.
5. To know; to be acquainted with; to have a real and just view of. For then, and not till then, he felt himself. Shak.
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 xvii.

FEEL-ER, 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. Encyc. This term is also applied to the antennae or horns of insects. Paley.

FEEL-ING, 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. Shak.
3. Faculty or power of perception; sensibility. Their king, out of a princely feeling, was sparing and compassionate toward his subjects. Bacon.
4. Nice sensibility; as, a man of feeling.
5. Excitement; emotion.

FEEL-ING, ppr.

1. Perceiving by the touch; having perception.
2. adj. 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.]

FEEL-ING-LY, 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. Shak.

FEESE, n.

A race. [Not in use.] Barret.

FEE'-SIM-PLE, n. [See FEE.]

FEET, n. [plur. of Foot. See FOOT.]

FEE'-TAIL, n.

An estate entailed; a conditional fee.

FEET'LESS, a.

Destitute of feet; as, feetless birds. Camden.

FEIGN, v.t. [fane; Fr. feindre; Sp. fingir; It. fingere, or fignere; L. fingo; D. veinzen; Arm. feinta, fincha. The Latin forms fictum, fictus, whence figura, figure. Hence it agrees with W. fugiaw, to feign or dissemble; fug, feint, disguise; also L. 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 thy own heart. Neh. vi.
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 Sam. xiv. She feigns laugh. Pope.
3. To represent falsely; to pretend; to form and relate s fictitious tale. The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. Shak.
4. To dissemble; to conceal. [Obs.] Spenser.

FEIGN-ED, pp.

Invented; devised; imagined; assumed.

FEIGN-ED-LY, adv.

In fiction; in pretense; not really. Bacon.

FEIGN-ED-NESS, n.

Fiction; pretense; deceit. Harman.

FEIGN-ER, n.

One who feigns; an inventor; a deviser of fiction. B. Jonson.

FEIGN-ING, n.

A false appearance; artful contrivance. B. Jonson.

FEIGN-ING, ppr.

Imagining; inventing; pretending; making a false show.

FEIGN-ING-LY, adv.

With false appearance.

FEIL, v.t. [D. feilen.]

To wipe; to rub and cleanse. [Local.]