Feel v.

Pa. t. and pa. pple. felt. Forms: Infin. 1 félan, 3–4 felen, (5 feelen), 3–5 fell, 3, 5–6 Sc. feil(l, (6 feild), 3–6 fele, 3–4 south. vele, 4–5 felyn, feyle, (5 feyll), 4–7 feele, (6 feale, 8 feell), 4, 6– feel. Pa. t. and pa. pple. 3 feild, fielde, 3–6 feld(e, 4–5 fe(e)lid, felyd(e, 4–6 feeled, 3–7 felte, 3– felt. Also with prefix (esp. in pa. t. and pa. pple.) 1–2 ȝe-, 2–3 i-, y-. [Com. WestGer.; OE. félan (also ȝefélan) corresponds to OFris. féla, OS. gifôlian (Du. voelen), OHG. fuolen to handle, grope (MHG. vüelen, mod.G. fühlen to feel), Da. föle to feel (prob. adopted from some LG. source):—WGer. type *fôljan, f. root fôl:—OAryan păl-, pl-, occurring in OE., OS. folm, OHG. folma hand, Gr. παλάμη, L. palma, Skr. pāṇi, OIr. lám (:—*plāma).]

  I.  To examine or explore by touch.

  1.  trans. To handle (an object) in order to experience a tactual sensation; to examine by touching with the hand or finger.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. vii. (Sweet), 38. Þysþernes, de dæges ge nihtes, & swa ȝedrefedlic þæt hit man ȝefelan mihte [tenebras crassitudine palpabiles].

1388.  Wyclif, Gen. xxvii. 22. Whanne he hadde feelid hym, Isaac seide [etc.].

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 208. If þou felist þe place wiþ þi fyngir.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 195 b. By king Edward, which loved well both to loke and to fele fayre dammosels.

1611.  Bible, Judg. xvi. 26. Suffer mee, that I may feele the pillars.

1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 15. You neede feele no other pulse than my heart.

1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 108. He was felt, and found to be Circumcis’d. Ibid., 409. The maids have their hair ty’d up in forty tresses, which hand down about their heads, and they were not shy of being seen, nor of having their hair felt.

1776.  Trial of Nundocomar, 33/1. I felt his pulse.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xvii. ‘Let me feel your pulse, dear Ramorny.’

  b.  In wider sense: to try by touching, e.g., with a stick or the foot; to move or lift gently and cautiously by way of trial.

1833.  Regul. Instr. Cavalry (1844), 48. By feeling the bit gently with the bridle-hand, the horse is to be made to step back.

1867.  F. Francis, Angling, vii. (1880), 279. Feeling the fish … consists in raising the point of the rod so as to tighten the line sufficiently to enable you to feel the ‘tug, tug, tug,’ made by the fish in detaining the worm.

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Terms Coal Mining, Feel (S.S.), to examine the roof of a thick seam of coal with a long stick or rod by poking and knocking upon it.

1886.  R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, 169–1. The wind off it from the land is cold enough to make the men bang their arms about for warmth, as they stand in their boats feeling first one line and then another for a bite.

  c.  To feel († out) one’s way: to find one’s way by groping; to proceed by cautious steps. lit. and fig.

1436.  Polit. Poems (Rolls), II. 165. Kynge Edwarde … felde the weyes to reule well the see.

1638.  Chillingw., Relig. Prot., I. ii. § 144. 108. While we have our eyes, we need not feele out our way.

1688.  Miege, Fr. Dict., s.v. Feel, A blind Man that feels his Way with a Stick.

1818.  Byron, Ch. Har., IV. lxxxi.

1862.  G. Macdonald, D. Elginbrod, II. xxviii. An aging moon was feeling her path somewhere through the heavens.

1879.  Froude, Cæsar, xiv. 217. Cæsar, after feeling his way with his cavalry, found a rounded ridge projecting like a promontory into the plain where the Belgian host was lying.

  d.  To feel out: to ascertain the configuration of (something) as if by touch.

1892.  H. R. Mill, Realm of Nature, xi. 188. The form of the floor of the ocean has thus been gradually felt out point by point.

  † e.  To grope after, fig. (Merely a literalism of translation). Obs.

1382.  Wyclif, Acts xvii. 27. To seke God, if perauenture thei felen [L. attrectent] hym eyther fynden.

1535.  Coverdale, Acts xvii. 27. That they shulde seke the Lorde, yf they mighte fele and fynde him.

  2.  absol. and intr. a. To use the hand or finger as an organ of touch. Const. at, of (now only dial. and U.S.), † to.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., II. iii. 26. Then I felt to his knees, and so vpward, and vpward, and all was as cold as any stone.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 352. The Part [of Wood] that Shineth, is, (for the most part), somewhat Soft, and Moist to feele to.

1751.  R. Paltock, P. Wilkins, xlvii. (1883), 140/2. There were many large heaps of ore lying, which I felt of.

1780.  Charlotte Burney, in F. Burney’s Early Diary (1889), II. 289. One Character came to feel of it [his mask].

1864.  E. Sargent, Peculiar, II. 262. Josephine rose and felt of the bosom of Clara’s dress till she distinguished the weapon of which Esha had spoken.

1878.  N. H. Bishop, Voy. Paper Canoe, 99. Crowds of people came to feel of the canoe, giving it the usual punching with their finger-nails, ‘to see if it were truly paper.’

  b.  To search for something with the hand (or other tactile organ); to put out the hands, etc. to discover one’s position or find one’s way; to grope. Const. after, for. Also with about.

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. lix. 10. As withoute eȝen we han felid.

1530.  Palsgr., 547/2. Fele this way alonge by the wall, tyll you come to the wyndowe.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 133. Take the Taile, and feele betwixt every joint. Ibid., III. 136. Let him … feele for the blaines, or blisters.

1611.  Bible, Acts xvii. 27. If haply they might feele after him, and finde him.

1726.  Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 22. Putting my Hand in my Pocket to feel for something else, I took it out, and found in it a Letter directed for me.

1771.  Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 192. I searched all my pockets … opened all our parcels … and looked and felt in every fold of them.

1839.  T. Beale, Sperm Whale, 46. ‘Sweeping,’ which consists in moving the tail slowly from side to side on the surface of the water, as if feeling for the boat or any other object that may be in the neighbourhood.

1864.  Tennyson, En. Ard., 774.

1868.  J. H. Blunt, Ref. Ch. Eng., I. 294. The king began to feel about for further augmentations of his revenue.

  † c.  To feel of: ? to handle, administer. To feel together: to come into contact. Obs.

c. 1400.  An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, 30. It is necesari to hem to visit þe sek, to pray for þe vnmiȝti, and to fele of þe sacraments of God.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 38. As soone as these dragons felen to-geder thei will fighten strongely.

  3.  With subord. clause: To try to ascertain by handling or touch. † Formerly sometimes also with material obj.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3693 (Cott.).

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 270. Þou miȝt fele in what place þei goon in.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxvii. 21. And Isaac saide vnto Iacob, Come neere, I pray thee, that I may feele thee, my sonne, whether thou bee my very sonne Esau, or not.

1647–8.  Joseph Beaumont, Psyche, III. lix.

Mod.  The surgeon felt if any bones were broken.

  † 4.  fig. To test or discover by cautious trial; to ‘sound’ (a person, his feelings or intentions). Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2902 (Cott.).

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 174.

1465.  Paston Lett., No. 520, II. 221. Fele what he menyth. Ibid. (1476), No. 771, III. 154. I shall ffele hym.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 213 b. Thei had felte the myndes and ententes, of the rude people.

1581.  Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., II. lxiii. (1519), 90. Adding moreouer, that to that purpose he had felt the cohort, which was in garrison at Ostia.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, I. ii. 94. He hath writ this to feele my affection to your Honor.

1664.  Sir C. Lyttelton, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 41. To feele the French how they will concerne themselves between us and y^e Dutch.

  5.  Milit. a. trans. To examine by cautious trial the nature of (the ground), the strength of (an enemy). b. intr. To feel for: To try to ascertain the position or presence of.

  a.  1793.  Bentinck, in Ld. Auckland’s Corr., III. 47. I mentioned my wish of feeling that ground to Lord Loughborough, who, I am sure, would give me his assistance.

1839.  Napier, Penins. War, VI. vii. (Rtldg.), I. 316. Loison felt the Portuguese at Pezo de Ragoa.

1848.  J. Grant, Adv. Aide-de-C., I. vii. 92. Order Lieutenant Colonel Kempt to throw forward the whole of his light infantry, double quick, and in extended order to ‘feel’ the enemy, and keep their tirailleurs in check.

  b.  1839.  Napier, Penins. War, VII. ii. (Rtldg.), I. 334. Sylveira, who was at Villa Real, had orders to feel towards Mezamfrio for the enemy, and the marshal’s force was thus, with the assistance of the insurgents, in readiness to turn Soult from the route of Villa Real to Bragança.

1847.  Infantry Man. (1854), 96. An advanced guard, on approaching a village, must proceed with great precaution if feeling for an enemy.

  II.  To perceive, be conscious.

  6.  trans. To have the sensation of contact with; to perceive by the sense of touch.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 145. Al þat þe fyngres and þe fust · felen and touchen.

15[?].  Frere & Boye, 91, in Ritson, Anc. Pop. Poetry, 38.

1538.  Starkey, England, I. i. 20. Thos thyngys wych we se, fele, or her, or by any sens may perceyue.

1545.  Brinkelow, Compl., 19. The lawyer can not vnderstond the matter tyl he fele his mony.

1580.  J. Frampton, Monarde’s Dial. of Yron & Steele, 155 b. Pouder … that being taken betweene the fingers, it seemeth not too haue anie maner of substance, neither is it felt between them.

1638.  Sir R. Baker, trans. Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac, I. 67. I am glad therefore I have found one face among so many vyzards, and that I can lay hold of something I can feele, and that hath truth in it.

1724.  R. Falconer, Voy. (1769), 52. It shaked its Tail to and fro, as a Dog does when he seems pleas’d, all the while it felt the Water.

1771.  Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 86. I felt under my naked foot … some hard substance or other.

1869.  Tennyson, Pelleas & E., 428.

  b.  In wider sense: To perceive, or be affected with sensation by (an object) through those senses which (like that of touch) are not referred to any special ‘organ’; to have a sensation of (e.g., heat or cold, a blow, the condition of any part of the body, etc.).

a. 1000.  Riddles, xxvi. 9 (Gr.). Heo … feleð sona mines ȝemotes.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 185. Þo kyng Arture yt [þe dunt] yuelde.

a. 1605.  Montgomerie, That his hairt is woundit, 17. I the force thairof [a darte] did feild.

1639.  trans. Du Bosq’s Compl. Woman, II. 82. We feele a wound, not knowing the hand which strikes us.

1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 63. We not onely felt not the cold, but even sweated in the depth of Winter.

1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 142. A Nettle is a Plant so well known to every one, as to what the appearance of it is to the naked eye, that it needs no description; and there are very few that have not felt as well as seen it.

1705.  Bosman, Guinea, xx. 419. We have always thick Weather and a stiff Gale, which prevents our feeling the Heat of the Sun.

1840.  F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., II. 265. The hand holding the inflated animal [toad-fish], feels a constant boring motion of the spines, which is extremely painful.

  c.  with clause, or obj. with inf. (not preceded by to) or complement: To know by sense of touch or organic sensation.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 362. The deth he feleth thurgh his herte smite.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. viii. (Tollem. MS.). Watres of depe pittes … beþ felid more hoot in wynter þan in somer.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 119. Whan we may fele our pulses bete quikly.

1534.  Tindale, Mark v. 29. She felt in her body that she was healed off the plage.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 274. When the Genowayes felt the Arrowes pearcyng thorough their heades, armes and breastes.

1726.  Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 13. He felt the Blood trickle about his Legs.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Suppl., s.v. In the manage, they say to feel a horse in the hand; that is, to observe that the will of the horse is in the rider’s hand.

1771.  Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 239. One of the men … cried out that he felt him still warm.

1839.  T. Beale, Sperm Whale, 65. A Sardinian captain, bathing at Jerbeh, felt one of his feet in the grasp of one of these animals.

  d.  To feel one’s legs, wings: fig. to be conscious of one’s powers; to be at one’s ease.

1579.  E. K., in Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Ep. Ded. So flew Virgile, as not yet well feeling his wings.

1881.  Daily Tel., 27 Dec. It was not until the last act that he ‘felt his legs.’

  e.  absol. and intr. To have or be capable of sensations of touch, etc.

1340.  Ayenb., 154. Þet ech serui of his office … Ase þe eȝen to zyenne; þe yearen, to hyere … þe honden and al þet body to vele.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, X. lxxi. Even oisters and the earth-wormes, if a man touch them, doe evidently feele.

1631.  D. Widdowes, Nat. Philos. (ed. 2), 49. About this time [at thirty dayes] the Childe beginneth … to feele.

1643.  J. Steer, trans. Exp. Chyrurg., iii. 8. The under skinne seemeth blacke and wanne, and hardly feeleth, though it bee pricked with a Lancet.

1800.  Wordsw., Hart-leap Well, II. xxi.

1887.  W. James, in Mind, April, 184. If the skin felt everywhere exactly alike.

  7.  To perceive by smell or taste. Obs. exc. dial.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 510. Whan he it felen, he aren faȝen.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3695 (Gött.).

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 638. Haue ȝe … feled þe sauor.

1393.  Gower, Conf., III. 281.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 43.

1535.  Coverdale, Dan. iii. 27. There was no smell of fyre felt vpon them.

1575.  J. Still, Gamm. Gurton, I. ii.

1604.  Jas. I., Counterbl. (Arb.), 112. By his own election he would rather feele the sauour of a Sinke.

1624.  Capt. Smith, Virginia, I. 2. They fell with the coast of Florida in shoule water, where they felt a most dilicate sweete smell, though they saw no land, where ere long they espied, thinking it the Continent.

1706.  W. Storr, in Yorksh. Archæol. Jnrl., VII. 51. It was a very lothsome smell to feell all over the lordship.

1782.  Sir J. Sinclair, Observ. Scot. Dial., 83. ‘You complain much of that tannery, but I cannot say I feel it.’

1846.  J. Taylor, Upper Canada, 101. I was cheered by my conductor exclaiming, ‘I feel the odour of the spring.’

1861.  E. Waugh, Birtle Carter’s Tale, 7. There’s a bit o’ pickle theer, i’th cubbort; aw dar say he’d like some. For it eawt, an’ let him feel at it.

1870.  Ramsay, Remin., v. (ed. 18), 188. The kitchen is just coming in, and I feel a smell of tea, so when I get my four hours, that will refresh me and set me up again.

1884.  Eastern Morn. News, 19 April. He felt a nasty smell.

  † 8.  To perceive mentally, become aware of. Obs. [After L. sentire.] Const. as in 6 b, c.

a. 1000.  Riddles, vii. 8 (Gr.). Hi þæs felað.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 29. And whan ich fele þat folke telleþ my furste name is sensus.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 3257. Þi wale gode þat … fully feld all þe fare þat fall suld on erthe.

1463.  Paston Lett., No. 467, II. 126. As I feele hym disposed I schall send your maystreship answer.

c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, II. 435. With full glaid will to feill thai tithings true. Ibid., VI. 289. The queyne feld weill how that his purpos was.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 340/4. Whanne he [Bede] felt [printed fete] this He reuoked hit in his rectractions.

  9.  To be conscious of (a subjective fact); to be the subject of, experience (a sensation, emotion), entertain (a conviction).

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 76/196. Grete feblesse he fielde.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 106.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 88. Þanne þe sike man schal fele to greet heete & brennynge.

c. 1435.  Torrent of Portugal, 2536.

1535.  Coverdale, 2 Chron. vi. 29. Yf eny man fele his plage and disease.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 310.

1634.  W. Tirwhyt, trans. Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac, 309. I haue not at all felt the emotion I shewed; all my choller being but artificiall.

1717.  Pope, Eloisa, 365.

1798.  Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, ii. 25. With his abuse of the monks, excited such a clamour against him, that Francis I. felt a curiosity to hear his book read, and as our author informs us, found nothing improper in it.

1816.  Byron, Ch. Har., II. lxxxiii. Mankind have felt their strength, and made it felt.

1876.  J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. I. i. 44. Timour was a zealous Mahometan, and had been instructed in more definite notions of moral duty. He too felt some misgivings about his past course towards the end of his life; and the groans and shrieks of the dying and the captured in the sack of Aleppo awoke for a while the stern monitor within him.

  b.  with clause, or obj. with infinitive or complement.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 93. Gif he feleð þat he is wurðe þerto þenne understonde he þat husel.

a. 1225.  St. Marher., 7. Ne felestu þi flesch al toloken.

c. 1325.  English Metrical Homilies, 30. He asked him hou he him felid.

c. 1325.  Song Know Thyself, 45, in E. E. P. (1862), 131. Ȝif þou fele þe syker and sounde.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., 243. Ech of these men feelid weel in himsilf that he hadde nede for to have help and reuling.

1583.  Hollyband, Campo di Fior, 37. Feelest thou thy selfe well?

c. 1590.  Marlowe, Faust., Wks. (Rtldg.), 99/1.

1600.  E. Blount, trans. Conestaggio, 42. Feeling himselfe die by degrees.

1732.  Pope, Ep. Cobham, I. 262.

1771.  Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 49. We felt ourselves warm and comfortable.

1810.  Bentham, The Elements of the Art of Packing (1821), 173. He would find himself, or, as now we say, feel himself running counter to that which [etc.].

1881.  C. Gibbon, Heart’s Problem, iii. (1884), 33. Maurice felt his eyes dazzled by a blaze of light from the windows of Calthorpe House.

  c.  intr. (for earlier refl.) with complement. To have the sensation of being (what is predicated); to be consciously; to regard oneself as. To feel (quite) oneself: to seem to oneself to have one’s accustomed health or powers. To feel up to (one’s work, etc.): see UP.

1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. i. 89. Wil. Now, that your soul feels strong, let us proceed.

1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, xvii. You are aware how much I feel indebted to you for the service you have rendered me, and how anxious I am to show my gratitude.

1865.  Mrs. H. Wood, Mildred Arkell, I. ix. I don’t feel myself.

1878.  Besant & Rice, Celia’s Arb., xl. (1887), 295. I, for my part, felt small.

1884.  Graphic, 30 Aug., 231/1. I did not feel up to much fatigue.

  d.  intr. with adv. or adj. To entertain a certain sentiment, be in a particular frame of mind. Also with as if ——, like.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, cxxx. 3. Si non humiliter senciebam … if i not mekly felyd: bot i heghid my soul. That is if i had not meke felyng.

1771.  Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 58. While we were asunder, we felt as if a limb was wanting.

1801.  Southey, Thalaba, I. iv.

1819.  Shelley, Cenci, IV. ii. 18. How feel you to this work?

1839.  T. Beale, Sperm Whale, 174. The whale, after the last lance, immediately descended below the surface, and the captain felt certain that he was going to ‘sound,’ but in this he was much mistaken.

  e.  In various expressions, colloq. or vulgar. To feel like (doing something): to have an inclination for (? orig. U.S.; now common). To feel to (do something): (a) to feel or imagine that one does; (b) U.S. to feel inclined to do.

1836.  Going to Service, xii. 141–2. People would take liberties with her, and I should feel to have to take care of her.

1864.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 144. To feel to do a thing.

1865.  U. S. Grant, in Century Mag., Nov. (1889), 142/2. I now feel like ending the matter, if it is possible to do so, before we go back.

1891.  A. Forbes, Moltke and Moltkeism, in 19th Cent., Dec., 1018. Apart from those ‘purple patches,’ in reading which one feels to hear the turmoil of the battle.

  10.  To have passive experience of, undergo consciously. † Also intr. const. of (in OE., genitive case; see quot. a. 1000 in 6 b).

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 178. Ȝif eni ancre is þet ne veleð none uondunges.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 19372 (Gött.). Þat þai moght of na torfer fele.

c. 1300.  Beket, 2133.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 304.

1393.  Gower, Conf., II. 32.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 106.

c. 1440.  York Myst., x. 78. This is a ferly fare to feele.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 97. So fell ane wedder feld I neuer.

1563.  J. Pilkington, Burn. Paules Ch., A iij. They haue felde great calamities.

1614.  Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 398. Wee fell vpon a Cappucine nouice, which wept bitterly, because he was not allowed to be miserable. His head had now felt the razor, his backe the rodde: all that Laconicall discipline please him well.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 93. [He] had his head cut off, and felt a terrible reward for his Apostasie.

1767.  Byron’s Voy. r. World, 6. The inhabitants feel little inconvenience from heat and cold.

1818.  Shelley, Revolt of Islam, VIII. vii. 8.

1840.  F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., I. 5. We felt the first influence of the N. E. trade-wind, in lat. 21° N.

  absol.  1548.  Hall, Chron., 14. So the comon Proverbe was verified, as you have done, so shall you fele.

  11.  To be consciously affected in condition by (a fact or occurrence); to be sensibly injured or benefited by.

  a.  simply. † b. with obj. and complement.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 13. Thair fais feld thair cummyng weill.

c. 1430.  Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 756. I wil doo my parte, ye shul it fele.

a. 1440.  Found. St. Bartholomew’s, 53. Hym ȝe shall feill most prompte helper in this present perill.

c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, V. 514. He is on lyff, that sall our natioune feill.

1883.  Manch. Guardian, 18 Oct., 4/7. The storm of Tuesday appears to have been felt very severely on the Western coasts.

  12.  transf. and fig. Of inanimate objects: To be influenced or affected by; to behave as if conscious of. Of a ship: To feel her helm (see quot. 1867).

1559.  W. Cuningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 11. Or descending to lowe, th’ earth of heat shall fele the flame.

1591.  Raleigh, Last Fight Rev. (Arb.), 19. The shippe could neither way nor feele the helme.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 628. Orites is in forme round as a globe: some call it Siderites, it will abide the fire and feele no harme therby.

1611.  Bible, Ps. lviii. 9. Before your pots can feele the thornes, he shall take them away.

1660.  Sharrock, Vegetables, 12. The lesse of the Winter the Cabbage or Collyflowers feels, the more subject ’tis to Caterpillars.

1694.  Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 33. The Ships do not feel these smaller Waves but only the great ones.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 448.

1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, I. 167. That never air or ocean felt the wind.

1822.  Shelley, Faust, II. 12. The hoar pines already feel her breath.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Feel the helm, To have good steerage way, carrying taut weather-helm, which gives command of steerage. Also said of a ship when she has gained headway after standing still and begins to obey the helm.

  13.  To be emotionally affected by (an event or state of things).

1600.  E. Blount, trans. Conestaggio, 271. They doe feele with greater griefe an other mans profite, then their owne losse.

1726.  Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 1. I was too young to feel my loss; but my Mother’s Grief soon broke her Heart, and left me a poor helpless Orphan not ten Years of Age.

a. 1774.  Goldsm., Epitaph on Dr. Parnell, 3.

1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 38. Rudolf, who felt deeply the tragical loss of his favourite son, himself communicated with Edward.

1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. ix. 171. It was her candour which he felt most keenly.

  14.  intr. To have the sensibilities excited; esp. to have sympathy with, compassion for (a person, his sufferings, etc.).

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 7.

1613.  Beaum. & Fl., Honest Man’s Fort., IV. ii. How heavy guilt is, when men come to feel!

1761.  Churchill, Rosciad (ed. 3), 638. Those who would make us feel, must feel themselves.

1809.  Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., IV. 525. No man can see his army perish by want without feeling for them.

1815.  Byron, Stanzas for Music, ‘There’s not a joy.’ Oh! could I feel as I have felt or be what I have been.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. vii. (ed. 5), 213. A moderate party … had always felt kindly towards the Protestant Dissenters.

1893.  Speaker, 20 May, 557/2. The Archbishop … and his colleagues feel very strongly on the subject of the attack upon the Welsh Church.

  15.  Expressing a belief or judgement. Const. either with direct object, subord. clause, or obj. with complement or infinitive (preceded by to.)

  † a.  generally. To believe, think, hold as an opinion. After L. sentire. Obs.

1362.  N. Hereford, etc., in Lewis, Life Wyclif (1820), 257. We were required to seyne what we felyde of diverse conclusions.

c. 1400.  An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, 87. Iuel þet felid of God, tenting to idols.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. xix. 412. Thouȝ y feele thus, that the clergie, etc.

1482.  Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 47. What schulde y thinke or fele of hym more worthior than not for to pray for him.

1544.  Bale, Chron. Sir J. Oldcastell, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), I. 260. That I should otherwyse fele and teach of the sacramentes. Ibid., 262. How fele ye thys artycle?

  b.  Now only with notions derived from other senses: To apprehend or recognize the truth of (something) on grounds not distinctly perceived; to have an emotional conviction of (a fact).

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. ii. 90.

1807.  Crabbe, The Parish Register, II. I. 141.

1835.  I. Taylor, Spiritual Despotism, vi. 245. They felt that a religion, more potent in its influence over the minds of men than any other, and at the same time generating discords such as no other religion had presented, and which convulsed and endangered the state, demanded a watchful control, and needed the most vigorous measures to prevent its bringing about, at once, its own destruction, and that of the empire.

1861.  Trollope, Barchester T., xxxii. She felt that she might yet recover her lost ground.

Mod.  The proposed legislation was felt to be inexpedient.

  III.  16. Used (like taste, smell) in quasi-passive sense with complement: To be felt as having a specified quality; to produce a certain impression on the senses (esp. that of touch) or the sensibilities; to seem.

1581.  Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 92. A country fellowe, whom hee tooke by the hande, which feeling to bee rough and harde brauned, he scoffingly askt him whether hee vsed to goe with his handes or with his feete.

1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 139. The substance of it feels, and looks to the naked eye, and may be stretch’d any way, exactly like a very fine piece of Chamois leather.

1694.  Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 165. If it feels heavy, so that we are afraid that it [the Whale] will pull the Boat under Water, then we give him more Rope, if he runs strait out before, he draweth the Sloops after him.

1768.  J. Byron, Narr. Patagonia, 252. The weather was extremely cold, and felt particularly so to us, who had been so long used to hot climates; and what made it still worse, we were very thinly clad.

1825.  A. Caldcleugh, Trav. S. Amer., II. xvii. 185. Owing to a heavy rain which had fallen during the night, the air felt chilly, although the thermometer stood at 70°.

1844.  Lady Fullerton, Ellen Middleton, ix. It felt to me as if the air had grown lighter, and the sky bluer, and as if my feet sprung as by magic from the ground they trod on.

1862.  Mrs. Browning, Poems, Mother & Poet, vi.

1885.  E. Garrett, At Any Cost, iv. 66. Not then could she understand how it felt to lie wakeful at nights.