Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FE'DI-TY, n. [L. fœditas.]

Turpitude; vileness. [Not in use.] Hall.

FEE, n.¹ [Sax. feo, feoh; D. vee; G. vieh; Sw. fä; Dan. fæe; Scot. fee, fey, or fie, cattle; 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, &c. Many of these are fixed by law; but gratuities to professional men are also called fees.

FEE, n.² [This word is usually deduced from Sax. feoh, cattle, property, and fee, a reward. This is a mistake. Fee, in land, is a contraction of feud or fief, or from the same source; It. fede, Sp. fe, faith, trust. Fee, a reward, from feoh, is a Teutonic word; but fee, feud, fief, are words wholly unknown to the Teutonic nations, who use, as synonymous with them, the word, which, in English, is loan. This word, fee, in land or an estate in trust, originated among the descendents 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. Blackstone. Encyc. 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, 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. Shak.
4. To keep in hire. Shak.

FEE'BLE, a. [Fr. foible; Sp. feble; Norm. id.; It. fievole. 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.

FEE'BLE, v.t.

To weaken. [Not used. See Enfeeble.]

FEE'BLE-MIND-ED, a.

Weak in mind; wanting firmness or constancy; irresolute. Comfort the feeble-minded. 1 Thess. v.

FEE-BLE-MIND'ED-NESS, n.

State of having a feeble mind.

FEE'BLE-NESS, 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.

FEE'BLY, adv.

Weakly; without strength; as, to move feebly. Thy gentle numbers feebly creep. Dryden.

FEED, a. [or pp.]

Retained by a fee.

FEED, n.

1. Food; that which is eaten; pasture; fodder; applied to that which it 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 bad I found. Milton.

FEED, v.i.

1. To take food; to eat. Shak.
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. Ex. xxii.
4. To grow fat. Johnson.

FEED, v.t. [pret. and pp. fed. Sax. fedan; Dan. föder, Sw. foda, to feed and to beget; Goth. fodyan; D. voeden, to feed; G. futter, fodder; füttern, to feed; Norm. foder, to feed and to dig, uniting with feed the L. fodio; Ar. فَطَأ fata, to feed, and congressus fuit cum fœmina, sæpius concubuit. Class Bd, No. I4. See Father. In Russ. petayu is to nourish; and in W. buyd is food, and bwyta, to eat; Arm. boeta; Ir. fiadh, food, G. weid, pasture.]

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. Once in three years feed your mowing lands. Mortimer.
5. To nourish; to cherish; to supply with nutriment; as, to a 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 old 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. Is. xl.

FEED-ER, n.

1. One that gives food, or supplies nourishment.
2. One who furnishes incentives; an encourager. The feeder of my riots. Shak.
3. One that eats or subsists; as, small birds are feeders on grain or seeds.
4. One that fattens cattle for slaughter. United States.
5. A fountain, stream or channel that supplies a main canal with water. Feeder of a vein, in mining, a short cross vein. Cyc.

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 BI, 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.]