feelingn.

Brit.

/ˈfiːlɪŋ/, U.S.

/ˈfilɪŋ/

Forms: see feel v. and -ing suffix¹; also Irish English (Wexford) 1700s feelen, 1800s feeleen.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: feel v., -ing suffix¹.

Etymology: < feel v. + -ing suffix¹.

I. Senses relating to sensation or touch.

a. The capacity to experience the sense of touch or other bodily sensations (as of heat, cold, pain, motion, etc.); physical sensation other than sight, hearing, taste, or smell.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > physical sensation

feelinga1225

witc1290

sentimentc1374

perceivinga1398

scentc1422

feelc1450

sensation1598

aesthesis1601

sensing1613

sensity1613

resentment1634

perceptiona1652

scenting1657

sensating1666

awaring1674

sensitivity1819

sense perception1846

sentition1865

the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > [noun] > power of perceiving by

feelinga1225

a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 75 Hore blawing, hore smelling, heore feling wes al iattret.

c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) 169 Hire fif wittes, Sihðe & herunge, smechunge & smellunge, & euch limes felunge.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. ix. 98 Þe spirit of felinge is ihilde and ischad into al þe body.

?a1450 J. Arderne in 17th Internat. Congr. Med. (1914) xxiii. 111 (MED) There was a wommane that sodeynly loste the feelynge & movynge of bothe armys in the nyghte.

c1460 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Laud) l. 17018 Heryng, speche, sight, smellyng & felyng are wyttes v.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings iv. 31 There was nether voyce ner felynge.

1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions i. viii. f. 61 Some do so astonne the lymmes of them, that touche them, that they haue no feelinge..a good whyle after.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. x. lxxi. 306 There is not a living creature..but hath the sence of feeling, although it have none else.

1669 A. Browne Ars Pictoria (1675) 65 Finally by the feeling, we touch cold and hot, moist and dry.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 411. ¶1 The Sense of Feeling can indeed give us a Notion of..Shape.

1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies II. xli. 109 The Elephant would find out the Gold among the Lead, by the nice Feeling of his Proboscis.

1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne xi. 146 Anatomists say that rooks..have a more delicate feeling in their beaks than other round-billed birds.

1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 30 A hoof..blunts the feeling, and renders the foot incapable of seizing.

1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiv. 189 Yet from grief-worn limbs shall feeling wholly depart not.

1919 Science 7 Mar. 238/1 He is devoid of powers of olfaction, though possessing a sense of feeling in certain regions of the nasal epithelium.

1943 T. Kitching Diary 9 Apr. in Life & Death in Changi (1998) x. 219 Barron's circulation is all to blazes and he has no feeling in his feet.

2014 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 16 May 29 His thigh was cold to the touch and appeared to have lost all feeling.

b. A physical sensation or perception (as of touch, heat, cold, pain, motion, etc.) experienced through this capacity.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > [noun] > physical sensation through

touchingc1325

feelinga1425

contact sensation1901

the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > physical sensation > a physical sensation

feelinga1425

feelc1485

sense1547

sensation1557

impressure1607

impressa1616

impression1632

sense perception1846

a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 10 (MED) And wiþ þis felyng of þis womman, God ȝaf hir witt to prophecie þus.

1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. a^v The vertue of the henbane taketh away the felynge of the payne.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. i. 7 Sounds, Sents, Sauors and Feelings.

1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. iii. §7. 45 The aire is so thinne..that it is not sufficient to beare vp the body of a bird, hauing therein no feeling of her wings.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 387/2 A Flamation, or Flamatious feeling; as the pain of burning and scalding.

1702 J. Purcell Treat. Vapours iii. 68 The Crudities..irritate the Nerves of those Parts with such a Motion, as causes a feeling of Cold all the way they go up the Back.

1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers ii. xiv. 214 A kind of feeling, or immediate perception of things present, and in contact with the percipient.

1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 242 It is often difficult..to describe on paper every feeling and appearance we notice.

1846 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. xiii. 540 A feeling of some of the corporeal changes taking place within themselves.

1884 B. Bosanquet et al. tr. H. Lotze Metaphysic 524 That feeling which instructs us respecting the position, the movement, and the amount of exertion of our limbs.

1920 Bedford (Pa.) Gaz. 4 June 7/1 (advt.) That balloony feeling after meals will quickly disappear if you swallow a few Dill's Digesters.

1974 Jrnl. Clin. Pharmacol. 14 109/2 Subjects who had received the higher dose of triazolam had a greater feeling of drowsiness the following day.

2014 Burton (Staffs.) Mail (Nexis) 2 June A lack of potassium in your system can cause feelings of nausea.

a. The action of experiencing a sensation in response to a (physical or mental) stimulus; the action of touching or exploring something with the hands.In figurative uses sometimes difficult to distinguish from uses at branch II.

ΚΠ

c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 222 Þe feorðe fulst to bismere, & to merren meiðhad, þet is unhende felunge..for ȝef ȝe þenne hondlið ow in ei stude untuliche, þenne smit leccherie o þe mihte of meiðhad.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 92 Handlung oðer ei felunge bi tweone mon & ancre is þing swa uncundelich.

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 140 In þis ben yuel signes..crampe, to schite wiþoute felynge, & vnmouablete of alle þe membris.

c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 21^v (MED) The brayn..official it is seid, ffor it haþ þe office of felynge and stirynge.

?1565 R. Fills tr. T. de Bèze Briefe Summe Christian Faith (new ed.) vii. f. 145 Concerninge the contrition of the harte, wee know that the verye true amendment of a Christian, must beginne by the feelyng of his synnes.

1611 Bible (King James) Eph. iv. 19 Who being past feeling haue giuen themselues ouer vnto lasciuiousnesse.

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 48 The knowledge of heat that we have from the feeling of it, is far more off from the right knowledge of it, or such as may likeliest become God, than [etc.].

1742 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 42 264 The famous Statuary Ganibasius..could by Feeling make a Statue in Clay.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1752 I. 127 Love is not a subject of reasoning, but of feeling.

1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 14 From the first feeling of a febrile attack.

1833 Regulations Instr. Cavalry i. ii. 47 Rein back—A light feeling of both reins.

1875 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 4 66 Man's sensation of colour, his hearing of sounds, his smelling of smells, his tasting of tastes, and his feeling of the shapes of things.

1906 S. S. Laurie Synthetica I. 18 The feeling of an object by a subject-being or entity.

1956 H. Merrick tr. H. Buhl Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage 36 No pulling or propping, no violent ‘heave-ho!’, but a cautious feeling of the way upwards, often made more difficult by vertical stratification.

2005 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 14 Mar. Behaviour which..would bring a swift feeling of the collar and an appearance before magistrates.

b. With out. The action of testing or finding out by careful investigation or observation; the sounding out of a person's intentions, strength, etc. Cf. to feel out at feel v. Phrasal verbs.

ΚΠ

1923 Princeton Alumni Weekly 21 Nov. 167/1 It [sc. the completion of a pass] marked the end of the feeling-out process for Yale.

1926 H. J. Laski Let. 2 May (1953) II. 838 The acute pleasure that the feeling-out of other minds gives one.

1964 E. L. Brown Newer Dimensions in Patient Care III. viii. 148 The hospital is too busy a place to use the ‘feeling out’ process if it can be avoided.

1994 Vanity Fair Feb. 135/2 Redstone made a feeling-out phone call to Diller at the Waldorf.

II. Senses relating to emotion, sentiment, or mental sensitivity or awareness.

3. Capacity or readiness to feel emotion, esp. sympathy or empathy; susceptibility to emotional or aesthetic influences; sensibility.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > compassion > [noun] > capacity to feel

feeling?c1400

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > sensitiveness or tenderness > [noun]

feeling?c1400

tendernessc1440

heart1557

nicety1583

toucha1586

apprehension1605

tender-heartedness1607

sensibility1609

sensibleness1613

acuteness1644

exquisiteness1650

susceptivity1722

sensation1744

soul1748

susceptibility1753

sensitivity1773

sensitiveness1788

affettuoso1791

sensibilité1817

soulfulness1842

mild-heartedness1849

susceptiveness1873

sensitivism1877

tender-mindedness1907

?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. iv. l. 1084 Euery weleful man haþ a wel delicat felyng. So þat but yif alle þinges fallen at hys owen wille..an-oone he is þrowe adoune.

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Ellesmere) (1872) l. 610 Ffor certes I am al Venerien In feelynge and myn herte is Marcien.

?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Sii Grose folke of rude affection Dronkerdes, banysshed of trewe felyng.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 29 We thankful should be: which we taste, and feeling, are for those partes that doe fructifie in vs more then he.

1600 E. Blount tr. G. F. di Conestaggio Hist. Uniting Portugall to Castill 44 Who if he had any feeling of a man, should [etc.].

1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 33 Their king..out of a Princely feeling, was sparing, and compassionate towards his Subjects.

1731 J. Swift Let. 10 Sept. in Wks. (1843) II. 659/2 She has..not one grain of feeling.

1741 D. Hume Ess. Moral & Polit. I. i. 3 The delicacy of his Feeling or Sentiments makes him be touched very sensibly by every Part of it.

1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 175 He thinks I have no feeling.

1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility I. xv. 190 Is he not a man of honour and feeling ?

1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. ii. 49 A woman of feeling would not wear false jewels.

1918 M. F. Peirce New York i. viii. 61 If you had any feeling I should think you would wish her to be with me for the next few months.

1983 Wilson Q. 7 141 Romantics..portrayed Mozart as an otherworldly spirit, a creature of exquisite feeling.

2009 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 13 Mar. 70 They are devoid of feeling and humanity..and must be hunted down and severely punished.

a. The condition of being emotionally affected or committed; emotion, sentiment; an instance of this, an emotion (of hope, joy, sorrow, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > [noun]

ondeeOE

moodeOE

affection?c1225

affecta1398

feelinga1413

heart1557

stir1563

emotion1603

permotion1656

naturality1822

the mind > emotion > [noun] > an emotion

affection?c1225

passiona1250

motionc1390

feelinga1413

feelc1485

motivec1485

stirring1552

emotive1596

emotion1602

resentment1622

sentiment1652

sensation1674

flavour1699

aftertaste1702

pathy1837

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iii. l. 1090 The felyng of his sorwe or of his fere, Or of ought elles, fled was out of towne. And doun he fel al sodeynly a swowne.

a1425 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Laud) (1884) cxxx. 3 (MED) If i had not meke felyng..bot i heghid my soul in pride.

a1450 ( G. Chaucer Bk. Duchess (Tanner 346) (1871) l. 1172 Algatis songes thus I made Of my felynge myn herte to glade.

1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Love in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 9 All my passions and felinges weren lost.

1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (xxxv. 12) They lawgh in their sleeve, which content themselves with the secret feeling of their owne joy.

1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ii. 392 The which with great feeling, and contentment having understood..he instituted a Synod.

1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman ii. 13 Separation is so often made without any feeling.

1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. ii. 191 Fear that keeps all feeling, out, As lesser pains are, by the Gout.

1764 J. Young Serm. Var. Pract. Subj. I. x. 164 All the painful feelings of fear, anxiety, and despair.

1772 R. Hurd in A. Cowley Select Wks. II. 176 The poet, as usual, expresses his own feeling.

1781 J. Moore View Society & Manners Italy I. xiv. 157 Every compunctious feeling of the heart is sacrificed.

1814 W. Scott Waverley III. xiv. 189 Feelings more easily conceived than described.

1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 281 From that moment a feeling of hopelessness ran through us.

1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith i. 13 Religious feelings differ from other feelings by their nature and by their object.

1915 Fortnightly Apr. 866 Many..are apparently intended to create a feeling of shame in the minds of unrecruited young men.

1947 J. O. Bailey Pilgrims through Time & Space 318 If art is only the impassioned expression of powerful feeling..it does not include scientific fiction.

1987 K. Lette Girls' Night Out (1989) 109 ‘He's a bad egg,’ she said with feeling.

2010 C. Wooding Black Lung Captain xx. 236 He'd forgotten the sad gray feeling that had settled on him lately.

b. In plural. A person's emotions or sympathies considered collectively; the emotional susceptibilities or tendencies of a person's character. Cf. to hurt a person's feelings at Phrases 2.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > [noun] > emotions or feelings

feelings1530

intrinsical1655

frames and feelings1734

sensibilities1858

1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) 155 For we haue oure wylle free. but not oure felynges..And therfore oure mercyfull lorde takyth vs not after oure felynges but after oure wylles.

1640 J. D. Knave in Graine iv. i. sig. K Here my griefe so parches me, that it does paine me to relate my woes, and make my feelings knowne.

1693 A. Monro Serm. Several Occasions 283 He rejoices in the midst of his sorrows, to sacrifice his feelings and infirmities to the Conduct and Wisdom of God.

1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 4 They need none of these heightenings to interest the feelings of my friend.

1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest II. x. 79 She tried to command her feelings so as to avoid disturbing the family.

1828 J. W. Croker Croker Papers (1884) I. xiii. 404 All my time being employed in assuaging what gentlemen call their feelings.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. vii. 88 Both saw the absolute necessity of putting a constraint on their feelings.

1903 R. Boldrewood Last Chance (1905) xi. 272 We shall have to leave you at home next time if you cannot control your feelings.

2004 J. Fellowes Snobs (2005) xviii. 264 He's not a great one for showing his feelings but he was in the most frightful state, I can tell you.

a. Consciousness, awareness; an emotional appreciation or sense (of one's own condition, an external fact, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun]

sentimentc1374

feelinga1425

feelc1450

apprehension1605

sensibleness1605

sensea1616

sensibility1634

emotional intelligence1872

the mind > mental capacity > psychology > study of emotions > pain or pleasure in mental state > [noun]

feelinga1425

pleasure-pain1894

pleasure–unpleasure1900

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6447 Who so hath in his felyng The consequence of such shryuyng.

c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 552 For so astonyed and a-sweued Was every vertu in my heued..And al my felynge gan to dede.

?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. vii. sig. f.iij If folkes departed out of this lyfe, haue any remembrance or felynge of wordly matters, [etc.].

1574 G. Fenton tr. J. Talpin Forme Christian Pollicie iii. v. 135 Yet these miserable plaiers, haue no feeling of their wretchednes.

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xx. 273 I..haue ingenious feeling Of my huge sorowes.

1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 69 The feeling I have of the courtesies received from him.

1683 D. A. Whole Art Converse 56 You would easily be wrought into some feeling of your folly in this point.

1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels II. 296 They have already sufficient feeling of their disease.

1775 T. Leland Christian's Duty to Offenders 5 If the offender be awakened to a feeling of his danger.

1814 I. D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. II. 134 He was..too conscious of his superiority, to betray a feeling of injury.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 71 To encourage with a feeling of safety those whom [etc.].

1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 30 The feeling of perfect equality inside the church.

1938 W. Watson Miss Pettigrew lives for Day vii. 97 Miss Pettigrew sat savouring to the full..a dashing feeling of being a little fast.

1968 Dubois County Daily Herald (Jasper, Indiana) 12 Feb. 6/2 Kids have no feeling of the importance of culture as a part of life.

2009 R. J. Norrell Up from Hist. 48 Myths that nurtured a feeling of their unique historical experience.

b. An idea, belief, or sense (especially a vague or irrational one) that a particular thing is true; an impression that something is about to happen or is the case; an intuition about something.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > faint, imperfect idea > [noun]

glimmeringc1380

glimpse1570

impression1613

sense1655

idea1712

conception1796

feeling1811

glimmer1837

a gleam (also glint, twinkle) in a person's eye1934

1811 Naval Chron. 26 203 When going into that machine [sc. a stage coach], I had a feeling..I should not get out of it without some mischief or another.

1885 S. K. Hocking Our Joe vi. 41 Joe reluctantly obeyed, for he had a feeling that he was being led into a trap.

1922 J. Street Rita Coventry xix. 191 I sometimes get the feeling that I don't know you so very well, after all.

1955 P. Larkin Let. 23 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 236 I have a sort of feeling about Jonathan Price's poetry.

1967 J. B. Keane in Celebrated Lett. (1996) 24 I have the feeling that I was watched the whole time.

1979 P. Theroux Old Patagonian Express xix. 293 I don't want to be in a train crash. But I have a very bad feeling about this train.

1988 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 16 Mar. 20 In Washington you get the feeling that if people..wear yellow shirts..the fashion police will rush right over to cover them with a Burberry.

2006 P. Josyph Liberty St. vi. 100 I have a funny feeling you'll be back.

a. That which a person feels in regard to something; attitude, esp. emotional attitude, sentiment; opinion or belief based on emotion or intuition and not solely on reason. †Formerly also : judgement, considered opinion (obsolete) (cf. feel v. 10).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > [noun]

weenc888

doomc900

advicec1300

wonec1300

opiniona1325

sentence1340

sight1362

estimationc1374

witc1374

assent1377

judgementa1393

supposinga1393

mindc1400

reputationc1400

feelingc1425

suffrage1531

counta1535

existimation1535

consent1599

vote1606

deem1609

repute1610

judicaturea1631

estimate1637

measure1650

sentiment1675

account1703

sensation1795

think1835

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional attitude > [noun]

feelingc1425

heart1512

resentment1655

sentiment1675

c1425 Treat. Ten Commandments in Stud. Philol. (1910) 6 9 (MED) For diuers causes þat been good & lawful to my felynge.

c1456 R. Pecock Bk. Faith (Trin. Cambr.) (1909) 191 (MED) Tho opiniouns were aȝens the felyng of the general chirche.

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 10 Wherfore truste not to muche in thin ovne felyng, but desire gladly to here oþir mennys felinges.

1531 W. Tyndale Answere Mores Dialoge f. xc And finally I haue better reasons for my felynge that y^e pope is antichrist then M. More hath for his endeuorynge him selfe & captiuinge his wittes y^t he is y^e true church.

1613 G. Wither Abuses Stript ii. ii. sig. P6^v I by my owne experience speake, I haue a feeling that we men are weake.

a1633 W. Ames Substance Christian Relig. (1659) xlvi. 274 But what ever our own particular feelings be, in respect of charity, & the judgment & desire thereof towards others, we ought alwayes either expresly or impliedly, to call upon God.

1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 160 If we survey a king not only opposing his own feelings, but reluctantly refusing those he regards.

1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 236 I communicated my thoughts and feelings to Mr. Wright.

1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I I. v. 120 The feelings of the Romanists were sadly put to the test by a circumstance which now occurred.

1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I II. xi. 287 The feelings of two ages attest the greatness of Hampden's name.

1863 J. W. Carlyle Lett. III. 186 You know my feelings about religious excitement-ecstatics.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §10. 577 Cromwell bowed to the feeling of the nation.

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 7 They have the feelings of old men about youth.

1922 T. S. Eliot Lett. (1988) I. 554 I am sure you will understand my feelings about this matter.

1973 Field & Stream Feb. 187/1 Spell out your feeling on guns and gun control..and ask them to go on record with theirs.

2014 Racing Post (Nexis) 4 July 108 The general feeling was that he could have won if he had been freed from team orders.

b. Business. The degree of readiness to buy prevailing amongst traders; market sentiment.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > traffic in stocks and shares > feeling or state of market

feeling1823

nervousness1894

1823 Augusta (Georgia) Chron. 11 Oct. These opinions..have produced an unfavourable change in the tone of feeling in the market here.

1847 Economist 2 Oct. 1146/2 The arrivals have been large since the 23rd ult., and there is a better feeling at market.

1888 Daily News 11 July 2/7 An improved feeling is also perceptible in ropes.

1920 Market Reporter 4 Dec. 359/1 Prices alone do not indicate any material improvement in condensed milk markets, but there is a slightly better feeling than a month ago.

2007 Platts Oilgram Price Rep. (Nexis) 14 June 3 The sale was seen by most as somewhat surprising, given the overall weak feeling in the market.

c. The mode of expression considered most natural or instinctive in a language. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > a language > [noun] > distinctive character of a language

propriety1550

idiom1573

idiotism1605

idiomacy1813

idiomaticism1825

feeling1875

idiomaticity1887

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. xv The feeling of the modern language is more opposed to tautology.

1891 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 12 165 The distinction..has a certain aesthetic value in marking a limit which the feeling of the language imposed on the range of metaphora.

1909 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 30 19 As soon as Stahl..says that the present indicative in conditional sentences is used when a general assumption is made..he runs counter to the feeling of the language.

7. The quality or condition which is felt to belong to anything; the general impression or effect produced on a person by an object, a place, another person, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > effect produced on emotions > [noun]

relesec1330

impressionc1374

feeling1597

press1601

impressure1607

impressa1616

resenting1632

feel1892

vibration1899

vibe1967

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II i. iii. 264 The apprehension of the good, Giues but the greater feeling to the worse.

1762 Ld. Kames Elements Crit. I. ii. 218 The base, which makes a part of the column, inspires a feeling of firmness and stability.

1830 Fraser's Mag. July 706/1 What added to the strange feeling of the moment during these devotions was, that the sea-fowl were whirling round and screaming near us.

1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 45 He nigh lost his wits ere morning..So weird-like was the feeling of the place.

1922 E. Sitwell in New Age 6 July 120/1 I liked..the warm, South-of-France feeling about her.

1959 F. Astaire Steps in Time (1960) ii. 10 It had the flavor, the neighborliness, and that small-town feeling without actually being one.

2012 Time Out N.Y. 22 Mar. 11/2 This charming West Village spot evokes the feeling of a Parisian bistro à vins.

8. Philosophy and Psychology. In various technical uses, as: (a) (in the writings of Thomas Brown, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, etc.) a fact or state of consciousness; (b) a generic term comprising sensation, desire, and emotion, but excluding perception and thought; (c) [after German Gefühl in the writings of Immanuel Kant] (more narrowly) the element of pleasure or pain in any mental state; (d) an intuitive cognition or belief neither requiring nor admitting of proof.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > consciousness

wita1000

mindc1300

perceptiona1398

percipiency1662

feeling1734

consciousness1753

percipience1768

self-feeling1798

sentience1839

sentiencya1850

cœnaesthesisa1856

cœnaesthesia1885

the mind > mental capacity > psychology > study of emotions > [noun] > condition of feeling

feeling1734

state1751

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun] > state of consciousness including

feeling1734

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > intuition > [noun] > intuitive knowledge > instance of

inset1587

intuition1660

under-sensea1807

cognitiona1822

feeling1824

the mind > emotion > [noun] > emotion in psychology > element of pleasure or pain

feelinga1856

the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > excluding perception and thought

feeling1871

the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] > desire excluding thought

appetency1802

feeling1871

1734 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. (new ed.) §89 We comprehend our own Existence by inward Feeling or Reflexion, and that of other Spirits by Reason.

1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. iv. 401 Tho' bodies are felt by means of their solidity, yet the feeling is a quite different thing from the solidity.

1820 T. Brown Lect. Philos. Human Mind I. xxv. 581 The feelings of extension, resistance, joy, sorrow, fragrance, colour, hope, fear, heat, cold, admiration, resentment.

1820 T. Brown Lect. Philos. Human Mind I. xi. 256 Consciousness..is only a general term for all our feelings, of whatever species these may be,—sensations, thoughts, desires;—in short, all those states or affections of mind in which the phenomena of mind consist.

1824 J. D. Wheeler Rep. Criminal Law Cases 2 36 Equally perceptible is the moral feeling that it is wrong to injure our fellow man.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. iii. §3. 66 Feeling, in the proper sense of the term, is a genus, of which Sensation, Emotion, and Thought, are subordinate species.

1846 W. Hamilton in T. Reid Wks. 760 Feeling is a term preferable to Consciousness, in so far as the latter does not mark so well the simplicity, ultimacy, and incomprehensibility of our original apprehensions.

1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect Introd. i. 2 The quality variously called Feeling, Consciousness, or Emotion.

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. xi. 186 This division of the phænomena of mind into the three great classes of the Cognitive faculties,—the Feelings, or capacities of Pleasure and Pain,—and the Exertive or Conative Powers..was first promulgated by Kant.

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xli. 492 The first grand distribution of our feelings will, therefore, be into the Sensations,—that is, the Sensitive or External Feelings; and into the Sentiments,—that is, the Mental or Internal Feelings.

1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. xv. 375 Feeling appeared in the world before knowledge.

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 14 Feeling is not opposed to knowledge, and in all consciousness there is an element of both.

1892 J. Sully Human Mind I. iv. 64 The term feeling..in a stricter sense is confined to those modes of consciousness which are in a peculiar sense affections of the subject, and which do not, in the same direct way as our thoughts and volitions, involve a clear reference to objects.

1892 J. Sully Human Mind II. xiii. 1 We include under the head of feeling all psychical states or phenomena so far as they have the element or aspect of the agreeable and disagreeable.

1902 Mind 11 283 Melancholia can be explained as due to the alteration of affective disposition by feelings.

1903 H. Manacorda & J. Muirhead tr. G. Villa Contemp. Psychol. v. 200 Feeling, in their opinion, is an autonomous mental function quite independent of cognition and of will.

1908 J. Watson tr. I. Kant in Philos. Kant Explained 475 But it is not so in the case of the feeling of pleasure and pain, which tells us nothing of the object, but only how the subject himself feels, when he is affected by the idea.

1914 Catholic Univ. Bull. 20 156 The objects excite, or awaken in us, certain states of feeling. What we term the properties of an object are the powers it exerts of producing sensations in our consciousness.

1992 Jrnl. Consumer Res. 18 442/1 Feelings are temporary affective states that are subjectively perceived by an individual.

2009 Human Stud. 32 19 Kant distinguished affects from passions and feeling.

9. Usually in plural. Sympathy or fondness for, or emotional attachment to, a person or thing; (in later use esp.) romantic attraction. Frequently in to have feelings for.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > [noun] > particular liking or partiality

partiality?a1439

respect1528

respecting1574

like1612

peculiarity1687

feeling1750

softness1873

1750 Fables & Tales for Ladies 43 'Tis a Secret none can find, But those who..can have Feelings for a Brother, and think each Self's to serve another.

1829 Western Luminary 28 Oct. 1/5 Every one..knows what it is to have feelings for anxious sinners.

1852 Lost Inheritance I. xv. 285 Nothing will change our feelings for each other... There is such a moral power in true, earnest love, that nothing can successfully oppose it.

1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xv. 165 Paul has rather a feeling for the old place.

1929 Amer. Mercury Jan. 96/2 The visiting Yankee technicians..developed kindly feelings for employés.

1990 Daily Herald (Chicago) 8 Apr. v. 1/5 It hasn't affected my feelings for the game at all.

2014 Sun (Nexis) 19 Nov. I didn't expect to meet Leo and end up having feelings for him, but I did.

10. In various artistic contexts, chiefly developing from senses 4 and 5.

a. Music and Theatre. Sympathetic interpretation of the emotional content or intention of a musical or dramatic composition, as manifested in the way it is played or performed.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > expression > [noun]

colour1597

colouring1771

feeling1771

expression1774

nuance1873

shading1881

expressivity1944

1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 42 This lady..plays the most difficult pieces with great precision, taste, and feeling.

1784 European Mag. & London Rev. May 366/2 No modern has been heard to play an adagio with greater taste and feeling.

1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XVI xli. 84 The circle..applauds..The tones, the feeling, and the execution.

1874 Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours 16 455/1 A girl..reciting, with wonderful feeling and expression, the glowing lines of the lovelorn Juliet.

1918 Proc. Royal Soc. 1917–18 A. 94 p. xxix He took up a violin, and played with masterly touch and exquisite feeling some Scotch airs.

1976 Jet 8 July 47/2 He played alto saxophone with such feeling that many of his recordings are classics today.

1993 Grand Street No. 47. 163 If you were performing Marie-Jeanne ou la Femme du Peuple, you would try to put some feeling into it.

b. Art. The emotional content or purport of a work, or the sensibility of the artist, as manifested in the way a picture is painted, drawn, etc.; the general tone of a work, esp. as contrasted with the particular techniques employed in its creation.

ΚΠ

1824 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 114 247 The delicate touches by which the skill and feeling of an accomplished artist convey an expression of sense, and grace, and sensibility to the finished representation of the human form.

1854 F. W. Fairholt Dict. Terms Art Feeling, that visible quality in a work of Art which forcibly depicts the mental emotion of the painter, or which exhibits his perfect mastery over the materials of Art.

1875 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 June 864/1 ‘A Surrey Farm-House’..delicate in execution, and beautiful in feeling and effect.

1906 Fine Arts Jrnl. 17 572 In the second panel, Mr. Blum has given us the harmony of contrast; not of color or drawing or technique, but of feeling.

1990 Master Drawings 28 275/1 Essentially, this sheet is entirely Italian in feeling and execution.

2001 S. P. Srivastava Jahangir i. 25 In all the jungle scenes, the landscape is shown with great feeling.

c. Architecture. The general tone of a building or style of architecture; the impression produced by a building on a spectator.

ΚΠ

1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany v. 52 A favourable example of Renaissance, retaining as it does much Gothic feeling.

1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 10 If the whole feeling of a building leads up to one point.

1938 Connecticut: Guide to Roads, Lore, & People (Federal Writers' Project) ii. 262 St James Episcopal Church..is a brownstone building of Gothic feeling, with a high spire and heavy buttresses.

2001 D. Shand-Tucci Campus Guide: Harvard University 260 The east end of Radcliffe Yard is governed by..a lighter, more attenuated neoclassical feeling.

11. With modifying word: an emotion or attitude of the specified type that two or more people or groups feel with respect to each other. Frequently with between. Now sometimes in plural.Cf. fellow-feeling n., hard feeling n. at hard adj. and n. Compounds 4.

ΚΠ

1806 Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury 11 Oct. There existed a thousand reasons..which made it desirable for him to promote a becoming feeling between Great-Britain and America.

1836 E. Everett Orations 378 There are recollections of former times, well calculated to form a bond of good feeling between our universities.

1863 E. A. Freeman Hist. Federal Govt. iv. 167 The events of the Peloponnesian War at once tended to beget a bitter feeling between Athens and the Bœotians.

1895 London Story Paper 12 Jan. 4/5 Husband and wife ate on together in silence. There was manifestly an ill-feeling between them.

1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1957) ix. 150 Nothing creates quite as good a feeling between people as one person's laughing overwhelmingly at the other's humour.

2014 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 4 June The ads..intensified bad feelings between factions of the Democratic Party.

12. Psychology and Aesthetics. With in, into. The process or fact of projecting one's personality into or mentally identifying oneself with an object of contemplation, and so fully understanding or appreciating it. Cf. einfühlung n., empathy n. 2a. [After German Einfühlung einfühlung n.; compare to feel into —— at feel v. Phrasal verbs] .

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > identification with other > [noun]

einfühlung1904

feeling1909

overidentification1933

empathy1946

the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > fellow feeling > [noun]

pityc1300

consentc1384

fellow-feeling1578

sympathy1662

homopathy1678

identification1840

sympneumatism1891

panpathy1900

feeling1909

1909 W. M. Urban Valuation viii. 238 The subject is said to enliven the object by projecting or feeling into it his own feeling content, for which process of ‘feeling-in’, or inner imitation, some aspect or expression of the object constitutes the stimulus.

1933 H. Read Art Now i. 49 No mere fellow-feeling, or feeling with, but rather a form of imaginative identification of the self with the object, a feeling into.

1949 A. Koestler Insight & Outlook xxvi. 359 This feeling-in process, or empathy, is..based on the projection of part of our own personality into the shell of the other.

1997 M. Sawicki Body, Text & Sci. iii. 96 Empathy was construed as a ‘feeling-into’, with the projecting feeler and the targeted feeler ontologically distinct from each other and from a third thing, the felt content.

III. Senses relating to knowledge, skill, or aptitude.

†13. Knowledge, understanding, skill, esp. that gained through practical experience. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > knowledge, what is known > experience > [noun]

sentimentc1374

assaya1387

proofa1387

feelingc1405

instructionc1425

experience1553

experiency1556

self-experience1599

trial1600

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 473 Ther with ye han in Musyk moore feelynge Than hadde Boece or any þ^t kan synge.

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) iii. l. 1333 I speke..vnder correccioun. Of yow þat felyng han in loues art.

a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 49 (MED) God make þe fast in way of knowynge and felynge of þreuth & vertues.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rom. v. 4 Pacience bryngeth felynge, felynge bryngeth hope.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection Pref. sig. Aii^v Some be exellently lerned, and yet haue but small felyng of these thynges.

1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 100 Spaine both knowes us, and hath of late had some feeling of us.

14. A talent or aptitude; an affinity or intuitive understanding. Frequently in to have a feeling for and variants.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > [noun] > ability or talent > a talent or special ability

gifta1300

dowerc1375

dowryc1440

faculty1490

indument1527

dote1546

furniture1561

vein1568

talent1602

acquirement1607

enduement1609

endowmentc1610

genius1611

congruity1659

feeling1808

feel1891

1808 Belfast Monthly Mag. 31 Dec. 381/1 The number of happy and truly poetical expressions with which he has supplied Virgil, prove that Ennius was possessed of the true spirit of poetry, and above all, with a feeling for imitative harmony.

1896 Educ. Rev. Oct. 275 I do not believe that the true way to get a feeling for Latin is by any conscious process—least of all by any conscious forcing process.

1952 R. Ellison Let. 8 Jan. in R. Ellison & A. Murray Trading Twelves (2000) 24 She got into that Haitian groove. She really had the feeling for that stuff too, man—mostly in the shoulders though 'cause as she explained them Hate-ties don't fool around with bumps and grinds lessen it's death dance.

1994 Time 7 Mar. 64/3 She showed authority and what her coach calls bing gan, a feeling for skating.

2011 Engin. Designer (Nexis) July 4 He said they had a ‘feeling’ for how materials worked, a feeling for brittleness, strength and workability.

Phrases

P1. in (the) feeling: used to describe the qualities of something as perceived by touching it; ‘to the touch’. Cf. to the feel at feel n. 1. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > to the sense of touch [phrase]

in (the) feelinga1400

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 305 Whanne it is not hoot in felinge [L. calidum non est actu].

1544 Bk. Chyldren in T. Phaer tr. J. Goeurot Regiment of Lyfe (new ed.) sig. h.iiij It [sc. the fyre of Saynt Anthonye] is an inflammation of membres with excedyng burnynge and rednesse, harde in the feelynge, [etc.].

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 128 His hyde not hard, or stubborne in feeling [L. corium attactu non asperum ac durum].

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 155 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors It is of a reddish colour, as smooth, and slippery in the feeling as soap.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xii. 65 The harder the Corns of Powder are in feeling, by so much the better it is.

1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Goat A dark Coat, and very soft in the feeling.

1818 Edinb. Rev. Feb. 301 Forging for them such chains as, soft in feeling as silk, but strong in proof as adamant, will bind them down [etc.].

1864 D. B. St. J. Roosa tr. A. F. von Tröltsch Dis. Ear xviii. 168 Peculiar red bodies..which were quite hard in feeling, and were firmly attached to the mucous membrane.

1947 Kew Bull. 2 12 Stem 10 to 15 ins. in diam. Leaves rough in feeling.

P2. to hurt the feelings of, to hurt a person's feelings: to offend or upset; to injure emotionally.

ΚΠ

1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women II. viii. 65 How improving soever an acquaintance with life may be found on some accounts, there are instances, in which it will hurt the feelings of the heart.

1776 Parl. Reg. 1775–80 V. 53 They avoided, as much as possible, any explanations that might hurt the feelings of the witness.

1804 Ld. Nelson Lett. (1814) II. 57 Do not hurt my feelings by telling me that I neglect any opportunity.

1894 F. R. Stockton Pomona's Trav. 51 I wouldn't hurt his feelings on the subject of his religion.

1946 C. Bush Case Second Chance iii. 52 I hated hurting his feelings... He took it rather well, though.

2004 Weekly World News 1 Nov. 4/1 Aides say that the constant jokes about his intellect hurt the president's feelings.

P3. to relieve one's feelings: to release strong emotions such as distress, grief, frustration, or anger by venting or expressing them in some manner (either verbally or physically).

ΚΠ

1788 Helena xxvii. 69 Helena..hastened to her own room, to relieve her feelings by a free indulgence of them.

1850 J. H. Newman Lect. Diffic. Anglicans i. ii. 50 They..relieve their feelings by gestures and cries, and startings to and fro.

1884 S. J. Reid Life Sydney Smith xiii. 342 The muttered growl with which the eclipsed poet relieved his overcharged feelings.

1957 J. Braine Room at Top (1960) 121 I called her the worst names I could think of,..but it didn't relieve my feelings very much.

1992 L. Gordon Shared Lives viii. 174 Whereas the English take comfort in humour, New Yorkers relieve their feelings by uninhibited griping.

2009 P. C. Wrede Thirteenth Child (2010) xiv. 150 When the aunts caught us hanging over the banister listening, they relieved their feelings by scolding fiercely.

P4. era of good feeling: see era n. 4c.

P5. the feeling is mutual: see mutual adj. 1c.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.

ΚΠ

1601 N. Breton Soules Heavenly Exercise 46 In the feeling time of thy loue, death was sweete to his imagination.

1720 T. Bradbury Necessity Contending for Revealed Relig. i. 15 That which is such a burden to your Acquaintance, sits light enough upon you: But there is a feeling-time coming.

1754 A. Murphy Gray's Inn Jrnl. No. 66 These, in their Feeling-hours of Distress, are reported to have reproached themselves with their Folly.

1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxviii. 18 The palpi..executing the functions of antennæ, which probably induced Treviranus to call them Fühlhörner (Feeling-horns).

1867 Harper's Mag. Mar. 465/2 They remind one very forcibly of the blind man's feeling-stick.

1927 Amer. Mercury May 66/2 It..yielded the richest harvest of impressions, observations, and feeling-response, which are the stuff of the artist life.

1983 D. F. Morse & P. A. Morse Archaeol. Central Mississippi Valley ii. 19 One of the first recorded uses of the probe or feeling rod for discovering the presence of complete pots.

2007 Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune (Nexis) 14 Nov. b1 During the feeling sessions, students give a word to describe their mood for the day.

C2. attributive. Military. Designating an attack, shot, etc., used to draw out or discourage an enemy. Cf. feel v. 15b. Now rare.

ΚΠ

a1849 Sir R. Wilson Life (1862) I. ii. 67 So soon as the Austrian Hussars had fired with their skirmishers a few feeling shot.

1876 E. H. Wickham tr. Infl. Firearms upon Tactics 47 Those ‘feeling’ attacks..that the assailant should make in order that he may have time to concentrate his forces.

1945 Highway Traveler Apr. 38/2 The Germans sensing that you're coming and sending out feeling fire to discourage you.

1975 J. Jones WW II 89/2 The excitement of having to repel a light, feeling attack of Japanese almost immediately after.

C3. attributive and appositive (in sense 8), as feeling attitude, feeling state, feeling tone, etc. [In feeling-tone after German Gefühlston (1794 or earlier), as used by Wilhelm Wundt in Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (1874).]

ΚΠ

1883 Mind 8 474 An ‘affective’ or ‘emotive’, aspect or property—the latter being also called the ‘feeling-tone’ (Gefühlston or Betonung) of the sensation.

1892 J. Sully Human Mind I. iv. 8 The proposition that feeling as such has no quality (apart from the feeling-quality itself, agreeableness, disagreeableness) is held by most psychologists.

1893 Proc. 2nd Internat. Congr. Exper. Psychol. 1892 34 The feeling-tone of belief appeared..completely neutral, except so far as the subject-matter of belief caused it to have a pleasureable or painful quality.

1894 D. Irons in Mind 3 93 Under feeling should be included on the one hand pleasure and pain, and on the other that feeling towards the object, which for the present we may call feeling attitude. The term is not unexceptionable, but is used for convenience instead of some such formula as ‘feeling in relation to’.

1901 E. B. Titchener Exper. Psychol. I. i. ii. 54 Likeness may mean ‘likeness of feeling-effect’.

1906 S. S. Laurie Synthetica I. 136 This entitative feeling-potency does not contain the ‘modes’ of sense.

1909 W. M. Urban Valuation ii. 37 Feeling or feeling-disposition is always presupposed by desire.

1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. 58 Certain unconscious factors..give the complex its peculiar feeling-tone.

1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. 150 A woman who heard the first maroon announcing the Armistice on November 11th, 1918, responded with an instantaneous feeling-thought.

1920 T. P. Nunn Education 125 Feeling-spread is almost wholly biological imitation.

1920 T. P. Nunn Education 134 Pugnacity is an example of the instincts in which the feeling-element is a definite emotion.

1920 A. S. Pringle-Pattison Idea of God 120 The feeling-tone of the secondary qualities and their intimate connexion with the higher emotional life.

1937 Discovery July 216/2 The feeling-values of purple and violet are ‘uncertain’.

1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 585/2 The type of symptom that is mentioned..may be based on much more transient feeling-states of the parent towards the child.

2004 Psychol. Sport & Exercise 5 120 In all three studies, acute exercise improved feeling states regardless of exercise duration.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	feeling
释义	feelingn. Brit. /ˈfiːlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈfilɪŋ/ Forms: see feel v. and -ing suffix¹; also Irish English (Wexford) 1700s feelen, 1800s feeleen. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: feel v., -ing suffix¹. Etymology: < feel v. + -ing suffix¹. I. Senses relating to sensation or touch. 1. a. The capacity to experience the sense of touch or other bodily sensations (as of heat, cold, pain, motion, etc.); physical sensation other than sight, hearing, taste, or smell. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > physical sensation feelinga1225 witc1290 sentimentc1374 perceivinga1398 scentc1422 feelc1450 sensation1598 aesthesis1601 sensing1613 sensity1613 resentment1634 perceptiona1652 scenting1657 sensating1666 awaring1674 sensitivity1819 sense perception1846 sentition1865 the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > [noun] > power of perceiving by feelinga1225 a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 75 Hore blawing, hore smelling, heore feling wes al iattret. c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) 169 Hire fif wittes, Sihðe & herunge, smechunge & smellunge, & euch limes felunge. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. ix. 98 Þe spirit of felinge is ihilde and ischad into al þe body. ?a1450 J. Arderne in 17th Internat. Congr. Med. (1914) xxiii. 111 (MED) There was a wommane that sodeynly loste the feelynge & movynge of bothe armys in the nyghte. c1460 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Laud) l. 17018 Heryng, speche, sight, smellyng & felyng are wyttes v. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings iv. 31 There was nether voyce ner felynge. 1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions i. viii. f. 61 Some do so astonne the lymmes of them, that touche them, that they haue no feelinge..a good whyle after. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. x. lxxi. 306 There is not a living creature..but hath the sence of feeling, although it have none else. 1669 A. Browne Ars Pictoria (1675) 65 Finally by the feeling, we touch cold and hot, moist and dry. 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 411. ¶1 The Sense of Feeling can indeed give us a Notion of..Shape. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies II. xli. 109 The Elephant would find out the Gold among the Lead, by the nice Feeling of his Proboscis. 1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne xi. 146 Anatomists say that rooks..have a more delicate feeling in their beaks than other round-billed birds. 1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 30 A hoof..blunts the feeling, and renders the foot incapable of seizing. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiv. 189 Yet from grief-worn limbs shall feeling wholly depart not. 1919 Science 7 Mar. 238/1 He is devoid of powers of olfaction, though possessing a sense of feeling in certain regions of the nasal epithelium. 1943 T. Kitching Diary 9 Apr. in Life & Death in Changi (1998) x. 219 Barron's circulation is all to blazes and he has no feeling in his feet. 2014 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 16 May 29 His thigh was cold to the touch and appeared to have lost all feeling. b. A physical sensation or perception (as of touch, heat, cold, pain, motion, etc.) experienced through this capacity. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > [noun] > physical sensation through touchingc1325 feelinga1425 contact sensation1901 the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > physical sensation > a physical sensation feelinga1425 feelc1485 sense1547 sensation1557 impressure1607 impressa1616 impression1632 sense perception1846 a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 10 (MED) And wiþ þis felyng of þis womman, God ȝaf hir witt to prophecie þus. 1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. a^v The vertue of the henbane taketh away the felynge of the payne. 1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. i. 7 Sounds, Sents, Sauors and Feelings. 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. iii. §7. 45 The aire is so thinne..that it is not sufficient to beare vp the body of a bird, hauing therein no feeling of her wings. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 387/2 A Flamation, or Flamatious feeling; as the pain of burning and scalding. 1702 J. Purcell Treat. Vapours iii. 68 The Crudities..irritate the Nerves of those Parts with such a Motion, as causes a feeling of Cold all the way they go up the Back. 1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers ii. xiv. 214 A kind of feeling, or immediate perception of things present, and in contact with the percipient. 1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 242 It is often difficult..to describe on paper every feeling and appearance we notice. 1846 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. xiii. 540 A feeling of some of the corporeal changes taking place within themselves. 1884 B. Bosanquet et al. tr. H. Lotze Metaphysic 524 That feeling which instructs us respecting the position, the movement, and the amount of exertion of our limbs. 1920 Bedford (Pa.) Gaz. 4 June 7/1 (advt.) That balloony feeling after meals will quickly disappear if you swallow a few Dill's Digesters. 1974 Jrnl. Clin. Pharmacol. 14 109/2 Subjects who had received the higher dose of triazolam had a greater feeling of drowsiness the following day. 2014 Burton (Staffs.) Mail (Nexis) 2 June A lack of potassium in your system can cause feelings of nausea. 2. a. The action of experiencing a sensation in response to a (physical or mental) stimulus; the action of touching or exploring something with the hands.In figurative uses sometimes difficult to distinguish from uses at branch II. ΚΠ c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 222 Þe feorðe fulst to bismere, & to merren meiðhad, þet is unhende felunge..for ȝef ȝe þenne hondlið ow in ei stude untuliche, þenne smit leccherie o þe mihte of meiðhad. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 92 Handlung oðer ei felunge bi tweone mon & ancre is þing swa uncundelich. a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 140 In þis ben yuel signes..crampe, to schite wiþoute felynge, & vnmouablete of alle þe membris. c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 21^v (MED) The brayn..official it is seid, ffor it haþ þe office of felynge and stirynge. ?1565 R. Fills tr. T. de Bèze Briefe Summe Christian Faith (new ed.) vii. f. 145 Concerninge the contrition of the harte, wee know that the verye true amendment of a Christian, must beginne by the feelyng of his synnes. 1611 Bible (King James) Eph. iv. 19 Who being past feeling haue giuen themselues ouer vnto lasciuiousnesse. View more context for this quotation 1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 48 The knowledge of heat that we have from the feeling of it, is far more off from the right knowledge of it, or such as may likeliest become God, than [etc.]. 1742 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 42 264 The famous Statuary Ganibasius..could by Feeling make a Statue in Clay. 1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1752 I. 127 Love is not a subject of reasoning, but of feeling. 1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 14 From the first feeling of a febrile attack. 1833 Regulations Instr. Cavalry i. ii. 47 Rein back—A light feeling of both reins. 1875 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 4 66 Man's sensation of colour, his hearing of sounds, his smelling of smells, his tasting of tastes, and his feeling of the shapes of things. 1906 S. S. Laurie Synthetica I. 18 The feeling of an object by a subject-being or entity. 1956 H. Merrick tr. H. Buhl Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage 36 No pulling or propping, no violent ‘heave-ho!’, but a cautious feeling of the way upwards, often made more difficult by vertical stratification. 2005 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 14 Mar. Behaviour which..would bring a swift feeling of the collar and an appearance before magistrates. b. With out. The action of testing or finding out by careful investigation or observation; the sounding out of a person's intentions, strength, etc. Cf. to feel out at feel v. Phrasal verbs. ΚΠ 1923 Princeton Alumni Weekly 21 Nov. 167/1 It [sc. the completion of a pass] marked the end of the feeling-out process for Yale. 1926 H. J. Laski Let. 2 May (1953) II. 838 The acute pleasure that the feeling-out of other minds gives one. 1964 E. L. Brown Newer Dimensions in Patient Care III. viii. 148 The hospital is too busy a place to use the ‘feeling out’ process if it can be avoided. 1994 Vanity Fair Feb. 135/2 Redstone made a feeling-out phone call to Diller at the Waldorf. II. Senses relating to emotion, sentiment, or mental sensitivity or awareness. 3. Capacity or readiness to feel emotion, esp. sympathy or empathy; susceptibility to emotional or aesthetic influences; sensibility. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > compassion > [noun] > capacity to feel feeling?c1400 the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > sensitiveness or tenderness > [noun] feeling?c1400 tendernessc1440 heart1557 nicety1583 toucha1586 apprehension1605 tender-heartedness1607 sensibility1609 sensibleness1613 acuteness1644 exquisiteness1650 susceptivity1722 sensation1744 soul1748 susceptibility1753 sensitivity1773 sensitiveness1788 affettuoso1791 sensibilité1817 soulfulness1842 mild-heartedness1849 susceptiveness1873 sensitivism1877 tender-mindedness1907 ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. iv. l. 1084 Euery weleful man haþ a wel delicat felyng. So þat but yif alle þinges fallen at hys owen wille..an-oone he is þrowe adoune. c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Ellesmere) (1872) l. 610 Ffor certes I am al Venerien In feelynge and myn herte is Marcien. ?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Sii Grose folke of rude affection Dronkerdes, banysshed of trewe felyng. 1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 29 We thankful should be: which we taste, and feeling, are for those partes that doe fructifie in vs more then he. View more context for this quotation 1600 E. Blount tr. G. F. di Conestaggio Hist. Uniting Portugall to Castill 44 Who if he had any feeling of a man, should [etc.]. 1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 33 Their king..out of a Princely feeling, was sparing, and compassionate towards his Subjects. 1731 J. Swift Let. 10 Sept. in Wks. (1843) II. 659/2 She has..not one grain of feeling. 1741 D. Hume Ess. Moral & Polit. I. i. 3 The delicacy of his Feeling or Sentiments makes him be touched very sensibly by every Part of it. 1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 175 He thinks I have no feeling. 1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility I. xv. 190 Is he not a man of honour and feeling ? View more context for this quotation 1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. ii. 49 A woman of feeling would not wear false jewels. 1918 M. F. Peirce New York i. viii. 61 If you had any feeling I should think you would wish her to be with me for the next few months. 1983 Wilson Q. 7 141 Romantics..portrayed Mozart as an otherworldly spirit, a creature of exquisite feeling. 2009 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 13 Mar. 70 They are devoid of feeling and humanity..and must be hunted down and severely punished. 4. a. The condition of being emotionally affected or committed; emotion, sentiment; an instance of this, an emotion (of hope, joy, sorrow, etc.). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > [noun] ondeeOE moodeOE affection?c1225 affecta1398 feelinga1413 heart1557 stir1563 emotion1603 permotion1656 naturality1822 the mind > emotion > [noun] > an emotion affection?c1225 passiona1250 motionc1390 feelinga1413 feelc1485 motivec1485 stirring1552 emotive1596 emotion1602 resentment1622 sentiment1652 sensation1674 flavour1699 aftertaste1702 pathy1837 a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iii. l. 1090 The felyng of his sorwe or of his fere, Or of ought elles, fled was out of towne. And doun he fel al sodeynly a swowne. a1425 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Laud) (1884) cxxx. 3 (MED) If i had not meke felyng..bot i heghid my soul in pride. a1450 ( G. Chaucer Bk. Duchess (Tanner 346) (1871) l. 1172 Algatis songes thus I made Of my felynge myn herte to glade. 1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Love in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 9 All my passions and felinges weren lost. 1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (xxxv. 12) They lawgh in their sleeve, which content themselves with the secret feeling of their owne joy. 1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ii. 392 The which with great feeling, and contentment having understood..he instituted a Synod. 1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman ii. 13 Separation is so often made without any feeling. 1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. ii. 191 Fear that keeps all feeling, out, As lesser pains are, by the Gout. 1764 J. Young Serm. Var. Pract. Subj. I. x. 164 All the painful feelings of fear, anxiety, and despair. 1772 R. Hurd in A. Cowley Select Wks. II. 176 The poet, as usual, expresses his own feeling. 1781 J. Moore View Society & Manners Italy I. xiv. 157 Every compunctious feeling of the heart is sacrificed. 1814 W. Scott Waverley III. xiv. 189 Feelings more easily conceived than described. View more context for this quotation 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 281 From that moment a feeling of hopelessness ran through us. 1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith i. 13 Religious feelings differ from other feelings by their nature and by their object. 1915 Fortnightly Apr. 866 Many..are apparently intended to create a feeling of shame in the minds of unrecruited young men. 1947 J. O. Bailey Pilgrims through Time & Space 318 If art is only the impassioned expression of powerful feeling..it does not include scientific fiction. 1987 K. Lette Girls' Night Out (1989) 109 ‘He's a bad egg,’ she said with feeling. 2010 C. Wooding Black Lung Captain xx. 236 He'd forgotten the sad gray feeling that had settled on him lately. b. In plural. A person's emotions or sympathies considered collectively; the emotional susceptibilities or tendencies of a person's character. Cf. to hurt a person's feelings at Phrases 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > [noun] > emotions or feelings feelings1530 intrinsical1655 frames and feelings1734 sensibilities1858 1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) 155 For we haue oure wylle free. but not oure felynges..And therfore oure mercyfull lorde takyth vs not after oure felynges but after oure wylles. 1640 J. D. Knave in Graine iv. i. sig. K Here my griefe so parches me, that it does paine me to relate my woes, and make my feelings knowne. 1693 A. Monro Serm. Several Occasions 283 He rejoices in the midst of his sorrows, to sacrifice his feelings and infirmities to the Conduct and Wisdom of God. 1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 4 They need none of these heightenings to interest the feelings of my friend. 1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest II. x. 79 She tried to command her feelings so as to avoid disturbing the family. 1828 J. W. Croker Croker Papers (1884) I. xiii. 404 All my time being employed in assuaging what gentlemen call their feelings. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. vii. 88 Both saw the absolute necessity of putting a constraint on their feelings. 1903 R. Boldrewood Last Chance (1905) xi. 272 We shall have to leave you at home next time if you cannot control your feelings. 2004 J. Fellowes Snobs (2005) xviii. 264 He's not a great one for showing his feelings but he was in the most frightful state, I can tell you. 5. a. Consciousness, awareness; an emotional appreciation or sense (of one's own condition, an external fact, etc.). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun] sentimentc1374 feelinga1425 feelc1450 apprehension1605 sensibleness1605 sensea1616 sensibility1634 emotional intelligence1872 the mind > mental capacity > psychology > study of emotions > pain or pleasure in mental state > [noun] feelinga1425 pleasure-pain1894 pleasure–unpleasure1900 a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6447 Who so hath in his felyng The consequence of such shryuyng. c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 552 For so astonyed and a-sweued Was every vertu in my heued..And al my felynge gan to dede. ?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. vii. sig. f.iij If folkes departed out of this lyfe, haue any remembrance or felynge of wordly matters, [etc.]. 1574 G. Fenton tr. J. Talpin Forme Christian Pollicie iii. v. 135 Yet these miserable plaiers, haue no feeling of their wretchednes. 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xx. 273 I..haue ingenious feeling Of my huge sorowes. View more context for this quotation 1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 69 The feeling I have of the courtesies received from him. 1683 D. A. Whole Art Converse 56 You would easily be wrought into some feeling of your folly in this point. 1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels II. 296 They have already sufficient feeling of their disease. 1775 T. Leland Christian's Duty to Offenders 5 If the offender be awakened to a feeling of his danger. 1814 I. D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. II. 134 He was..too conscious of his superiority, to betray a feeling of injury. 1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 71 To encourage with a feeling of safety those whom [etc.]. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 30 The feeling of perfect equality inside the church. 1938 W. Watson Miss Pettigrew lives for Day vii. 97 Miss Pettigrew sat savouring to the full..a dashing feeling of being a little fast. 1968 Dubois County Daily Herald (Jasper, Indiana) 12 Feb. 6/2 Kids have no feeling of the importance of culture as a part of life. 2009 R. J. Norrell Up from Hist. 48 Myths that nurtured a feeling of their unique historical experience. b. An idea, belief, or sense (especially a vague or irrational one) that a particular thing is true; an impression that something is about to happen or is the case; an intuition about something. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > faint, imperfect idea > [noun] glimmeringc1380 glimpse1570 impression1613 sense1655 idea1712 conception1796 feeling1811 glimmer1837 a gleam (also glint, twinkle) in a person's eye1934 1811 Naval Chron. 26 203 When going into that machine [sc. a stage coach], I had a feeling..I should not get out of it without some mischief or another. 1885 S. K. Hocking Our Joe vi. 41 Joe reluctantly obeyed, for he had a feeling that he was being led into a trap. 1922 J. Street Rita Coventry xix. 191 I sometimes get the feeling that I don't know you so very well, after all. 1955 P. Larkin Let. 23 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 236 I have a sort of feeling about Jonathan Price's poetry. 1967 J. B. Keane in Celebrated Lett. (1996) 24 I have the feeling that I was watched the whole time. 1979 P. Theroux Old Patagonian Express xix. 293 I don't want to be in a train crash. But I have a very bad feeling about this train. 1988 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 16 Mar. 20 In Washington you get the feeling that if people..wear yellow shirts..the fashion police will rush right over to cover them with a Burberry. 2006 P. Josyph Liberty St. vi. 100 I have a funny feeling you'll be back. 6. a. That which a person feels in regard to something; attitude, esp. emotional attitude, sentiment; opinion or belief based on emotion or intuition and not solely on reason. †Formerly also : judgement, considered opinion (obsolete) (cf. feel v. 10). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > [noun] weenc888 doomc900 advicec1300 wonec1300 opiniona1325 sentence1340 sight1362 estimationc1374 witc1374 assent1377 judgementa1393 supposinga1393 mindc1400 reputationc1400 feelingc1425 suffrage1531 counta1535 existimation1535 consent1599 vote1606 deem1609 repute1610 judicaturea1631 estimate1637 measure1650 sentiment1675 account1703 sensation1795 think1835 the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional attitude > [noun] feelingc1425 heart1512 resentment1655 sentiment1675 c1425 Treat. Ten Commandments in Stud. Philol. (1910) 6 9 (MED) For diuers causes þat been good & lawful to my felynge. c1456 R. Pecock Bk. Faith (Trin. Cambr.) (1909) 191 (MED) Tho opiniouns were aȝens the felyng of the general chirche. a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 10 Wherfore truste not to muche in thin ovne felyng, but desire gladly to here oþir mennys felinges. 1531 W. Tyndale Answere Mores Dialoge f. xc And finally I haue better reasons for my felynge that y^e pope is antichrist then M. More hath for his endeuorynge him selfe & captiuinge his wittes y^t he is y^e true church. 1613 G. Wither Abuses Stript ii. ii. sig. P6^v I by my owne experience speake, I haue a feeling that we men are weake. a1633 W. Ames Substance Christian Relig. (1659) xlvi. 274 But what ever our own particular feelings be, in respect of charity, & the judgment & desire thereof towards others, we ought alwayes either expresly or impliedly, to call upon God. 1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 160 If we survey a king not only opposing his own feelings, but reluctantly refusing those he regards. 1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 236 I communicated my thoughts and feelings to Mr. Wright. 1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I I. v. 120 The feelings of the Romanists were sadly put to the test by a circumstance which now occurred. 1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I II. xi. 287 The feelings of two ages attest the greatness of Hampden's name. 1863 J. W. Carlyle Lett. III. 186 You know my feelings about religious excitement-ecstatics. 1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §10. 577 Cromwell bowed to the feeling of the nation. 1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 7 They have the feelings of old men about youth. 1922 T. S. Eliot Lett. (1988) I. 554 I am sure you will understand my feelings about this matter. 1973 Field & Stream Feb. 187/1 Spell out your feeling on guns and gun control..and ask them to go on record with theirs. 2014 Racing Post (Nexis) 4 July 108 The general feeling was that he could have won if he had been freed from team orders. b. Business. The degree of readiness to buy prevailing amongst traders; market sentiment. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > traffic in stocks and shares > feeling or state of market feeling1823 nervousness1894 1823 Augusta (Georgia) Chron. 11 Oct. These opinions..have produced an unfavourable change in the tone of feeling in the market here. 1847 Economist 2 Oct. 1146/2 The arrivals have been large since the 23rd ult., and there is a better feeling at market. 1888 Daily News 11 July 2/7 An improved feeling is also perceptible in ropes. 1920 Market Reporter 4 Dec. 359/1 Prices alone do not indicate any material improvement in condensed milk markets, but there is a slightly better feeling than a month ago. 2007 Platts Oilgram Price Rep. (Nexis) 14 June 3 The sale was seen by most as somewhat surprising, given the overall weak feeling in the market. c. The mode of expression considered most natural or instinctive in a language. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > a language > [noun] > distinctive character of a language propriety1550 idiom1573 idiotism1605 idiomacy1813 idiomaticism1825 feeling1875 idiomaticity1887 1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. xv The feeling of the modern language is more opposed to tautology. 1891 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 12 165 The distinction..has a certain aesthetic value in marking a limit which the feeling of the language imposed on the range of metaphora. 1909 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 30 19 As soon as Stahl..says that the present indicative in conditional sentences is used when a general assumption is made..he runs counter to the feeling of the language. 7. The quality or condition which is felt to belong to anything; the general impression or effect produced on a person by an object, a place, another person, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > effect produced on emotions > [noun] relesec1330 impressionc1374 feeling1597 press1601 impressure1607 impressa1616 resenting1632 feel1892 vibration1899 vibe1967 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II i. iii. 264 The apprehension of the good, Giues but the greater feeling to the worse. View more context for this quotation 1762 Ld. Kames Elements Crit. I. ii. 218 The base, which makes a part of the column, inspires a feeling of firmness and stability. 1830 Fraser's Mag. July 706/1 What added to the strange feeling of the moment during these devotions was, that the sea-fowl were whirling round and screaming near us. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 45 He nigh lost his wits ere morning..So weird-like was the feeling of the place. 1922 E. Sitwell in New Age 6 July 120/1 I liked..the warm, South-of-France feeling about her. 1959 F. Astaire Steps in Time (1960) ii. 10 It had the flavor, the neighborliness, and that small-town feeling without actually being one. 2012 Time Out N.Y. 22 Mar. 11/2 This charming West Village spot evokes the feeling of a Parisian bistro à vins. 8. Philosophy and Psychology. In various technical uses, as: (a) (in the writings of Thomas Brown, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, etc.) a fact or state of consciousness; (b) a generic term comprising sensation, desire, and emotion, but excluding perception and thought; (c) [after German Gefühl in the writings of Immanuel Kant] (more narrowly) the element of pleasure or pain in any mental state; (d) an intuitive cognition or belief neither requiring nor admitting of proof. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > consciousness wita1000 mindc1300 perceptiona1398 percipiency1662 feeling1734 consciousness1753 percipience1768 self-feeling1798 sentience1839 sentiencya1850 cœnaesthesisa1856 cœnaesthesia1885 the mind > mental capacity > psychology > study of emotions > [noun] > condition of feeling feeling1734 state1751 the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun] > state of consciousness including feeling1734 the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > intuition > [noun] > intuitive knowledge > instance of inset1587 intuition1660 under-sensea1807 cognitiona1822 feeling1824 the mind > emotion > [noun] > emotion in psychology > element of pleasure or pain feelinga1856 the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > excluding perception and thought feeling1871 the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] > desire excluding thought appetency1802 feeling1871 1734 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. (new ed.) §89 We comprehend our own Existence by inward Feeling or Reflexion, and that of other Spirits by Reason. 1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. iv. 401 Tho' bodies are felt by means of their solidity, yet the feeling is a quite different thing from the solidity. 1820 T. Brown Lect. Philos. Human Mind I. xxv. 581 The feelings of extension, resistance, joy, sorrow, fragrance, colour, hope, fear, heat, cold, admiration, resentment. 1820 T. Brown Lect. Philos. Human Mind I. xi. 256 Consciousness..is only a general term for all our feelings, of whatever species these may be,—sensations, thoughts, desires;—in short, all those states or affections of mind in which the phenomena of mind consist. 1824 J. D. Wheeler Rep. Criminal Law Cases 2 36 Equally perceptible is the moral feeling that it is wrong to injure our fellow man. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. iii. §3. 66 Feeling, in the proper sense of the term, is a genus, of which Sensation, Emotion, and Thought, are subordinate species. 1846 W. Hamilton in T. Reid Wks. 760 Feeling is a term preferable to Consciousness, in so far as the latter does not mark so well the simplicity, ultimacy, and incomprehensibility of our original apprehensions. 1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect Introd. i. 2 The quality variously called Feeling, Consciousness, or Emotion. a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. xi. 186 This division of the phænomena of mind into the three great classes of the Cognitive faculties,—the Feelings, or capacities of Pleasure and Pain,—and the Exertive or Conative Powers..was first promulgated by Kant. a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xli. 492 The first grand distribution of our feelings will, therefore, be into the Sensations,—that is, the Sensitive or External Feelings; and into the Sentiments,—that is, the Mental or Internal Feelings. 1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. xv. 375 Feeling appeared in the world before knowledge. 1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 14 Feeling is not opposed to knowledge, and in all consciousness there is an element of both. 1892 J. Sully Human Mind I. iv. 64 The term feeling..in a stricter sense is confined to those modes of consciousness which are in a peculiar sense affections of the subject, and which do not, in the same direct way as our thoughts and volitions, involve a clear reference to objects. 1892 J. Sully Human Mind II. xiii. 1 We include under the head of feeling all psychical states or phenomena so far as they have the element or aspect of the agreeable and disagreeable. 1902 Mind 11 283 Melancholia can be explained as due to the alteration of affective disposition by feelings. 1903 H. Manacorda & J. Muirhead tr. G. Villa Contemp. Psychol. v. 200 Feeling, in their opinion, is an autonomous mental function quite independent of cognition and of will. 1908 J. Watson tr. I. Kant in Philos. Kant Explained 475 But it is not so in the case of the feeling of pleasure and pain, which tells us nothing of the object, but only how the subject himself feels, when he is affected by the idea. 1914 Catholic Univ. Bull. 20 156 The objects excite, or awaken in us, certain states of feeling. What we term the properties of an object are the powers it exerts of producing sensations in our consciousness. 1992 Jrnl. Consumer Res. 18 442/1 Feelings are temporary affective states that are subjectively perceived by an individual. 2009 Human Stud. 32 19 Kant distinguished affects from passions and feeling. 9. Usually in plural. Sympathy or fondness for, or emotional attachment to, a person or thing; (in later use esp.) romantic attraction. Frequently in to have feelings for. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > [noun] > particular liking or partiality partiality?a1439 respect1528 respecting1574 like1612 peculiarity1687 feeling1750 softness1873 1750 Fables & Tales for Ladies 43 'Tis a Secret none can find, But those who..can have Feelings for a Brother, and think each Self's to serve another. 1829 Western Luminary 28 Oct. 1/5 Every one..knows what it is to have feelings for anxious sinners. 1852 Lost Inheritance I. xv. 285 Nothing will change our feelings for each other... There is such a moral power in true, earnest love, that nothing can successfully oppose it. 1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xv. 165 Paul has rather a feeling for the old place. 1929 Amer. Mercury Jan. 96/2 The visiting Yankee technicians..developed kindly feelings for employés. 1990 Daily Herald (Chicago) 8 Apr. v. 1/5 It hasn't affected my feelings for the game at all. 2014 Sun (Nexis) 19 Nov. I didn't expect to meet Leo and end up having feelings for him, but I did. 10. In various artistic contexts, chiefly developing from senses 4 and 5. a. Music and Theatre. Sympathetic interpretation of the emotional content or intention of a musical or dramatic composition, as manifested in the way it is played or performed. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > expression > [noun] colour1597 colouring1771 feeling1771 expression1774 nuance1873 shading1881 expressivity1944 1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 42 This lady..plays the most difficult pieces with great precision, taste, and feeling. 1784 European Mag. & London Rev. May 366/2 No modern has been heard to play an adagio with greater taste and feeling. 1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XVI xli. 84 The circle..applauds..The tones, the feeling, and the execution. 1874 Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours 16 455/1 A girl..reciting, with wonderful feeling and expression, the glowing lines of the lovelorn Juliet. 1918 Proc. Royal Soc. 1917–18 A. 94 p. xxix He took up a violin, and played with masterly touch and exquisite feeling some Scotch airs. 1976 Jet 8 July 47/2 He played alto saxophone with such feeling that many of his recordings are classics today. 1993 Grand Street No. 47. 163 If you were performing Marie-Jeanne ou la Femme du Peuple, you would try to put some feeling into it. b. Art. The emotional content or purport of a work, or the sensibility of the artist, as manifested in the way a picture is painted, drawn, etc.; the general tone of a work, esp. as contrasted with the particular techniques employed in its creation. ΚΠ 1824 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 114 247 The delicate touches by which the skill and feeling of an accomplished artist convey an expression of sense, and grace, and sensibility to the finished representation of the human form. 1854 F. W. Fairholt Dict. Terms Art Feeling, that visible quality in a work of Art which forcibly depicts the mental emotion of the painter, or which exhibits his perfect mastery over the materials of Art. 1875 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 June 864/1 ‘A Surrey Farm-House’..delicate in execution, and beautiful in feeling and effect. 1906 Fine Arts Jrnl. 17 572 In the second panel, Mr. Blum has given us the harmony of contrast; not of color or drawing or technique, but of feeling. 1990 Master Drawings 28 275/1 Essentially, this sheet is entirely Italian in feeling and execution. 2001 S. P. Srivastava Jahangir i. 25 In all the jungle scenes, the landscape is shown with great feeling. c. Architecture. The general tone of a building or style of architecture; the impression produced by a building on a spectator. ΚΠ 1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany v. 52 A favourable example of Renaissance, retaining as it does much Gothic feeling. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 10 If the whole feeling of a building leads up to one point. 1938 Connecticut: Guide to Roads, Lore, & People (Federal Writers' Project) ii. 262 St James Episcopal Church..is a brownstone building of Gothic feeling, with a high spire and heavy buttresses. 2001 D. Shand-Tucci Campus Guide: Harvard University 260 The east end of Radcliffe Yard is governed by..a lighter, more attenuated neoclassical feeling. 11. With modifying word: an emotion or attitude of the specified type that two or more people or groups feel with respect to each other. Frequently with between. Now sometimes in plural.Cf. fellow-feeling n., hard feeling n. at hard adj. and n. Compounds 4. ΚΠ 1806 Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury 11 Oct. There existed a thousand reasons..which made it desirable for him to promote a becoming feeling between Great-Britain and America. 1836 E. Everett Orations 378 There are recollections of former times, well calculated to form a bond of good feeling between our universities. 1863 E. A. Freeman Hist. Federal Govt. iv. 167 The events of the Peloponnesian War at once tended to beget a bitter feeling between Athens and the Bœotians. 1895 London Story Paper 12 Jan. 4/5 Husband and wife ate on together in silence. There was manifestly an ill-feeling between them. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1957) ix. 150 Nothing creates quite as good a feeling between people as one person's laughing overwhelmingly at the other's humour. 2014 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 4 June The ads..intensified bad feelings between factions of the Democratic Party. 12. Psychology and Aesthetics. With in, into. The process or fact of projecting one's personality into or mentally identifying oneself with an object of contemplation, and so fully understanding or appreciating it. Cf. einfühlung n., empathy n. 2a. [After German Einfühlung einfühlung n.; compare to feel into —— at feel v. Phrasal verbs] . ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > identification with other > [noun] einfühlung1904 feeling1909 overidentification1933 empathy1946 the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > fellow feeling > [noun] pityc1300 consentc1384 fellow-feeling1578 sympathy1662 homopathy1678 identification1840 sympneumatism1891 panpathy1900 feeling1909 1909 W. M. Urban Valuation viii. 238 The subject is said to enliven the object by projecting or feeling into it his own feeling content, for which process of ‘feeling-in’, or inner imitation, some aspect or expression of the object constitutes the stimulus. 1933 H. Read Art Now i. 49 No mere fellow-feeling, or feeling with, but rather a form of imaginative identification of the self with the object, a feeling into. 1949 A. Koestler Insight & Outlook xxvi. 359 This feeling-in process, or empathy, is..based on the projection of part of our own personality into the shell of the other. 1997 M. Sawicki Body, Text & Sci. iii. 96 Empathy was construed as a ‘feeling-into’, with the projecting feeler and the targeted feeler ontologically distinct from each other and from a third thing, the felt content. III. Senses relating to knowledge, skill, or aptitude. †13. Knowledge, understanding, skill, esp. that gained through practical experience. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > knowledge, what is known > experience > [noun] sentimentc1374 assaya1387 proofa1387 feelingc1405 instructionc1425 experience1553 experiency1556 self-experience1599 trial1600 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 473 Ther with ye han in Musyk moore feelynge Than hadde Boece or any þ^t kan synge. a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) iii. l. 1333 I speke..vnder correccioun. Of yow þat felyng han in loues art. a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 49 (MED) God make þe fast in way of knowynge and felynge of þreuth & vertues. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rom. v. 4 Pacience bryngeth felynge, felynge bryngeth hope. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection Pref. sig. Aii^v Some be exellently lerned, and yet haue but small felyng of these thynges. 1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 100 Spaine both knowes us, and hath of late had some feeling of us. 14. A talent or aptitude; an affinity or intuitive understanding. Frequently in to have a feeling for and variants. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > [noun] > ability or talent > a talent or special ability gifta1300 dowerc1375 dowryc1440 faculty1490 indument1527 dote1546 furniture1561 vein1568 talent1602 acquirement1607 enduement1609 endowmentc1610 genius1611 congruity1659 feeling1808 feel1891 1808 Belfast Monthly Mag. 31 Dec. 381/1 The number of happy and truly poetical expressions with which he has supplied Virgil, prove that Ennius was possessed of the true spirit of poetry, and above all, with a feeling for imitative harmony. 1896 Educ. Rev. Oct. 275 I do not believe that the true way to get a feeling for Latin is by any conscious process—least of all by any conscious forcing process. 1952 R. Ellison Let. 8 Jan. in R. Ellison & A. Murray Trading Twelves (2000) 24 She got into that Haitian groove. She really had the feeling for that stuff too, man—mostly in the shoulders though 'cause as she explained them Hate-ties don't fool around with bumps and grinds lessen it's death dance. 1994 Time 7 Mar. 64/3 She showed authority and what her coach calls bing gan, a feeling for skating. 2011 Engin. Designer (Nexis) July 4 He said they had a ‘feeling’ for how materials worked, a feeling for brittleness, strength and workability. Phrases P1. in (the) feeling: used to describe the qualities of something as perceived by touching it; ‘to the touch’. Cf. to the feel at feel n. 1. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > to the sense of touch [phrase] in (the) feelinga1400 a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 305 Whanne it is not hoot in felinge [L. calidum non est actu]. 1544 Bk. Chyldren in T. Phaer tr. J. Goeurot Regiment of Lyfe (new ed.) sig. h.iiij It [sc. the fyre of Saynt Anthonye] is an inflammation of membres with excedyng burnynge and rednesse, harde in the feelynge, [etc.]. 1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 128 His hyde not hard, or stubborne in feeling [L. corium attactu non asperum ac durum]. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 155 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors It is of a reddish colour, as smooth, and slippery in the feeling as soap. 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xii. 65 The harder the Corns of Powder are in feeling, by so much the better it is. 1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Goat A dark Coat, and very soft in the feeling. 1818 Edinb. Rev. Feb. 301 Forging for them such chains as, soft in feeling as silk, but strong in proof as adamant, will bind them down [etc.]. 1864 D. B. St. J. Roosa tr. A. F. von Tröltsch Dis. Ear xviii. 168 Peculiar red bodies..which were quite hard in feeling, and were firmly attached to the mucous membrane. 1947 Kew Bull. 2 12 Stem 10 to 15 ins. in diam. Leaves rough in feeling. P2. to hurt the feelings of, to hurt a person's feelings: to offend or upset; to injure emotionally. ΚΠ 1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women II. viii. 65 How improving soever an acquaintance with life may be found on some accounts, there are instances, in which it will hurt the feelings of the heart. 1776 Parl. Reg. 1775–80 V. 53 They avoided, as much as possible, any explanations that might hurt the feelings of the witness. 1804 Ld. Nelson Lett. (1814) II. 57 Do not hurt my feelings by telling me that I neglect any opportunity. 1894 F. R. Stockton Pomona's Trav. 51 I wouldn't hurt his feelings on the subject of his religion. 1946 C. Bush Case Second Chance iii. 52 I hated hurting his feelings... He took it rather well, though. 2004 Weekly World News 1 Nov. 4/1 Aides say that the constant jokes about his intellect hurt the president's feelings. P3. to relieve one's feelings: to release strong emotions such as distress, grief, frustration, or anger by venting or expressing them in some manner (either verbally or physically). ΚΠ 1788 Helena xxvii. 69 Helena..hastened to her own room, to relieve her feelings by a free indulgence of them. 1850 J. H. Newman Lect. Diffic. Anglicans i. ii. 50 They..relieve their feelings by gestures and cries, and startings to and fro. 1884 S. J. Reid Life Sydney Smith xiii. 342 The muttered growl with which the eclipsed poet relieved his overcharged feelings. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top (1960) 121 I called her the worst names I could think of,..but it didn't relieve my feelings very much. 1992 L. Gordon Shared Lives viii. 174 Whereas the English take comfort in humour, New Yorkers relieve their feelings by uninhibited griping. 2009 P. C. Wrede Thirteenth Child (2010) xiv. 150 When the aunts caught us hanging over the banister listening, they relieved their feelings by scolding fiercely. P4. era of good feeling: see era n. 4c. P5. the feeling is mutual: see mutual adj. 1c. Compounds C1. General attributive. ΚΠ 1601 N. Breton Soules Heavenly Exercise 46 In the feeling time of thy loue, death was sweete to his imagination. 1720 T. Bradbury Necessity Contending for Revealed Relig. i. 15 That which is such a burden to your Acquaintance, sits light enough upon you: But there is a feeling-time coming. 1754 A. Murphy Gray's Inn Jrnl. No. 66 These, in their Feeling-hours of Distress, are reported to have reproached themselves with their Folly. 1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxviii. 18 The palpi..executing the functions of antennæ, which probably induced Treviranus to call them Fühlhörner (Feeling-horns). 1867 Harper's Mag. Mar. 465/2 They remind one very forcibly of the blind man's feeling-stick. 1927 Amer. Mercury May 66/2 It..yielded the richest harvest of impressions, observations, and feeling-response, which are the stuff of the artist life. 1983 D. F. Morse & P. A. Morse Archaeol. Central Mississippi Valley ii. 19 One of the first recorded uses of the probe or feeling rod for discovering the presence of complete pots. 2007 Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune (Nexis) 14 Nov. b1 During the feeling sessions, students give a word to describe their mood for the day. C2. attributive. Military. Designating an attack, shot, etc., used to draw out or discourage an enemy. Cf. feel v. 15b. Now rare. ΚΠ a1849 Sir R. Wilson Life (1862) I. ii. 67 So soon as the Austrian Hussars had fired with their skirmishers a few feeling shot. 1876 E. H. Wickham tr. Infl. Firearms upon Tactics 47 Those ‘feeling’ attacks..that the assailant should make in order that he may have time to concentrate his forces. 1945 Highway Traveler Apr. 38/2 The Germans sensing that you're coming and sending out feeling fire to discourage you. 1975 J. Jones WW II 89/2 The excitement of having to repel a light, feeling attack of Japanese almost immediately after. C3. attributive and appositive (in sense 8), as feeling attitude, feeling state, feeling tone, etc. [In feeling-tone after German Gefühlston (1794 or earlier), as used by Wilhelm Wundt in Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (1874).] ΚΠ 1883 Mind 8 474 An ‘affective’ or ‘emotive’, aspect or property—the latter being also called the ‘feeling-tone’ (Gefühlston or Betonung) of the sensation. 1892 J. Sully Human Mind I. iv. 8 The proposition that feeling as such has no quality (apart from the feeling-quality itself, agreeableness, disagreeableness) is held by most psychologists. 1893 Proc. 2nd Internat. Congr. Exper. Psychol. 1892 34 The feeling-tone of belief appeared..completely neutral, except so far as the subject-matter of belief caused it to have a pleasureable or painful quality. 1894 D. Irons in Mind 3 93 Under feeling should be included on the one hand pleasure and pain, and on the other that feeling towards the object, which for the present we may call feeling attitude. The term is not unexceptionable, but is used for convenience instead of some such formula as ‘feeling in relation to’. 1901 E. B. Titchener Exper. Psychol. I. i. ii. 54 Likeness may mean ‘likeness of feeling-effect’. 1906 S. S. Laurie Synthetica I. 136 This entitative feeling-potency does not contain the ‘modes’ of sense. 1909 W. M. Urban Valuation ii. 37 Feeling or feeling-disposition is always presupposed by desire. 1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. 58 Certain unconscious factors..give the complex its peculiar feeling-tone. 1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. 150 A woman who heard the first maroon announcing the Armistice on November 11th, 1918, responded with an instantaneous feeling-thought. 1920 T. P. Nunn Education 125 Feeling-spread is almost wholly biological imitation. 1920 T. P. Nunn Education 134 Pugnacity is an example of the instincts in which the feeling-element is a definite emotion. 1920 A. S. Pringle-Pattison Idea of God 120 The feeling-tone of the secondary qualities and their intimate connexion with the higher emotional life. 1937 Discovery July 216/2 The feeling-values of purple and violet are ‘uncertain’. 1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 585/2 The type of symptom that is mentioned..may be based on much more transient feeling-states of the parent towards the child. 2004 Psychol. Sport & Exercise 5 120 In all three studies, acute exercise improved feeling states regardless of exercise duration. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022). feelingadj. Brit. /ˈfiːlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈfilɪŋ/ Forms: see feel v. and -ing suffix²; also Irish English (Wexford) 1800s feeleen, 1800s veeleen. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: feel v., -ing suffix². Etymology: < feel v. + -ing suffix². Compare earlier unfeeling adj. and also mis-feeling adj., well-feeling adj., feelingly adv. 1. Capable of sensory perception; that can feel. Formerly also: †conscious, sentient (obsolete). Also in extended use. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [adjective] passiblec1384 apprehensivea1398 feelinga1400 sensible?c1400 sufferablec1400 perceptible?a1430 sensatea1500 sensive?1541 senting1572 patible1602 sentient1632 sensile1650 sensatinga1652 perceptive1652 percipient1692 perceiving1736 a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 174 In þe heed þerof is fleisch þat is felynge [L. caro sensibilis]. ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iii. pr. xi. l. 2726 I doute me of herbes and of trees..þat ne han no felyng soule [L. Sed quid de herbis arboribus que, quid de inanimatis omnino consentiam rebus prorsus dubito]. c1450 in F. J. Furnivall Hymns to Virgin & Christ (1867) 19 Wiþ beestis, feelinge lijf haue we. 1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Love in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 93 (MED) Thilke bodyes that han felinge soules, and move not from places, holden the lowest degree. 1577 Vicary's Profitable Treat. Anat. sig. D.iii^v Seuen payre of sensatiue or feeling senews. 1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall i. f. 6 Then passe on to those things, of growing, and feeling life, which vpon her face doe relieue themselues. 1680 T. Otway Orphan iii. 37 The feeling Ayr's at rest. a1763 T. Lobb Pract. Physic (1771) I. ix. 181 It is easy to conceive how any violent pressure against the feeling nerves may excite pain. 1822 G. Kennedy Profession is not Princ. 138 And why must this something still present itself in the character of a living, feeling being? 1852 M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna, & Other Poems 106 For feeling nerves and living breath. 1925 Booklist Bks. 1924 8 A fascinating glimpse into the biologist's world of the moving and feeling creature. 1999 H. P. Moravec Robot vii. 198 It should be no worse to mistreat a human, an animal or a feeling robot than to choose a cruel action in a video game. 2. Of an emotion, belief, etc.: deeply felt or held; heartfelt, acute, intense. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > intense emotion > [adjective] inmostc897 inlyeOE mucha1200 deepa1400 inwardc1402 quickc1449 piercingc1450 sharpc1480 profound1526 feeling1531 visceral1575 infelta1586 hearty?1614 hearteda1616 home-felt1637 exquisitea1656 deep-rooted1669 intimate1671 exalted1704 bosom-felt1771 pathologic1891 bone deep1900 1531 W. Tyndale Answere Mores Dialoge f. vi^v God hath..geuen them a felinge faith of the mercy that is in christe Iesu. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie liii. 31 It was to him, a feeling greefe of grudge. 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xx. 214 The Art of knowne and feeling sorrowes. View more context for this quotation 1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 150 Knowing now by a feeling experience, her fathers reasons to be true. 1706 C. Cibber Perolla & Izadora i. ii. 11 It is a feeling Pleasure With such Excesses to afflict thy Soul. 1721 T. Southerne Oroonoko (new ed.) v. iv I had a feeling [1696 living] sense Of all your royal favours. 1786 W. A. Clarke Full & Faithful Narr. vi. 86 I now express the feeling Gratitude of my Heart to you for all your tender Care which you have shewed towards me. 1840 J. Mather 2 Lect. i. 25 As decided Reformers and economists as..any poor Radical, who has a feeling understanding of the necessity of being so. 1884 Gospel Banner Oct. 336 If ever man spoke from a feeling experience of God's faithfulness, he did. 1932 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 32 550/2 A feeling sense of the high calling upon which she has embarked. 1991 Amer. Bk. Rev. Apr. 6/3 United in the feeling knowledge that he was preceding us by a beat or two into ‘death's dateless night’. 3. a. Of a person, the mind, the heart, etc.: readily affected emotionally, esp. with regard to the suffering or distress of others; sensitive, sympathetic, compassionate. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > [adjective] > full of or affected by emotion taintc1330 thorough-thrilled1496 moved1527 feeling1583 emotioned1765 thorough-felt1789 instinct1797 quick1837 thrilled1850 emotional1851 enfraught1866 misty1957 the mind > emotion > compassion > [adjective] > inclined to nesheOE tender-hearted1539 feeling1583 effeminate1594 passionatea1616 bowellya1637 compassionative1643 caring1966 the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > sensitiveness or tenderness > [adjective] softc1175 mild-hearteda1200 moll1386 tender-hearted1539 melch-hearted1552 tenderly1567 feeling1583 frail1590 tender1595 tender-minded1608 sensible1631 high-strung1653 emollid1656 tender-natured1656 sensitive1735 sentimental1749 soulful1837 weak-hearted1841 1583 H. Poole in G. Babington Very Fruitfull Expos. Commaundem. sig. Kk2 O happie we ten thousand times if feeling heartes doe yeeld remorse. 1618 E. Elton Complaint Sanctified Sinner xxv. 494 Let them with feeling hearts magnifie the Name of the Lord. 1639 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 179 I haue bene, am, and ever shalbee, a feeleing member. 1757 R. Jago Let. 21 Nov. in R. Dodsley Corr. (1988) 309 I cannot suffer so feeling a Mind as Yours to remain a Moment in Perplexity upon my Account. 1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 194/2 The whole demeanor..did honour to them as feeling men, and peaceable citizens. 1838 Cornwall Chron. (Launceston, Austral.) 15 Sept. 1 The red-breast all drooping, sits upon the sill, beseeching with its sad look and tuneless note a morsel from some feeling heart within. 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. xiv. 243 Bonaparte, apart from politics, was feeling, kind, and accessible to pity. 1907 F. M. White Nether Millstone ii. 10 She was a tender and feeling woman now, without the slightest suggestion of cold pride on her face. 2009 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 28 June f2 Any feeling person empathizes with the pain of the parents. b. Of language, manner, etc.: characterized by, or expressive of, emotion, compassion, or sensitivity. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > manifestation of emotion > [adjective] > indicating emotion feelinga1586 pathetic1649 resentful1656 a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xii. sig. X6 Thy wailing words do much my spirits moue, They vttred are in such a feeling fashion. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. ii. sig. Cc8^v His feeling wordes her feeble sence much pleased. 1609 W. Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. K4 Gentle maid Haue of my suffering youth some feeling pitty. 1652 tr. M. de Scudéry Hist. Philoxypes & Polycrite 81 Philoxypes told me this in so feeling a manner, as I much pittied him. 1737 Hist. Clorana 77 This discourse was too feeling for Bellmont to bear much longer. 1799 R. B. Sheridan Pizarro iv. i A feeling boldness in those eyes assures me that [etc.]. 1832 New Monthly Mag. 34 154 The modest, feeling words with which he opens his book must secure the reader's esteem and affection. 1880 C. E. L. Riddell Myst. Palace Gardens (1881) xiv. 135 He could not have used more feeling language. 1922 Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Monthly June 221/2 The newly-elected chairman delivered a very eloquent and feeling address. 1944 G. Heyer Friday's Child xxii. 257 He pressed her hand in a very feeling manner. ‘But you are well? You are tolerably comfortable?’ 2009 Columbia 46 71 He shot me a blank but feeling look which said, ‘I can tell you're very upset.’ This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.a1225adj.a1400
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feelingn.

Phrases

Compounds

feelingadj.