a. [ad. L. tactilis tangible, f. tact-, ppl. stem of tangĕre to touch; cf. F. tactile.]
1. Perceptible to the touch; tangible.
1615. H. Crooke, Body of Man, 717. Beside the Sapour it hath also many Tangible or Tactile qualities.
1706. Phillips (ed. 6), s.v., The chief Tactile Qualities are Heat, Cold, Driness, Moistness, and Hardness.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 789. Certain visible and tactile signs.
2. Of or pertaining to touch; relating to the sense of touch.
1657–83. Evelyn, Hist. Relig. (1850), I. 34. The tactile, auditory, and olfactory senses.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., II. ii. § 2 (1864), 155. That high tactile sensibility distinguishing the tip of the tongue.
1874. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. i. § 10 (1879), 11. Our own Tactile Sense (under which general head may be combined the sense of Touch, the Sense of Muscular Exertion, and the Mental Sense of Effort).
1876. Foster, Phys., III. iv. (1879), 532. The tactile sensation is … a symbol to us of some external event.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 299. Tactile anæsthesia over … the whole of the left side.
b. Of organs: Endowed with the sense of touch.
1768. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 388. The gustatory papillæ of the tongue and tactile papillæ of the fingers.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., vii. (1878), 172. The external ears of the common mouse … no doubt serve as tactile organs.
1873. A. Flint, Nerv. Syst., i. 39. The name tactile corpuscles implies that these bodies are connected with the sense of touch.
