Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PER-CEIVE, v.t. [L. percipio; per and capio, to take.]

1. To have knowledge or receive impressions of external objects through the medium or instrumentality of the senses or bodily organs; as, to perceive light or color; to perceive the cold of ice or the taste of honey.
2. To know; to understand; to observe. Till we ourselves see it with our own eyes, and perceive by our own understanding, we are in the dark. – Locke.
3. To be affected by; to receive impressions from. The upper regions of the air perceive the collection of the matter of tempests before the air below. – Bacon.