sensen.
/sɛns/, U.S. /sɛns/ I. Senses relating to meaning, intelligibility, or coherence.† 3. The meaning intended or conveyed by a writer or speaker; the meaning, substance, or import of the writing or speech of a particular person. Obsolete.in the same sense: see Phrases 1a(b).† 6.
1.
a. The meaning of a more or less extended sequence of written or spoken words (as a sentence, passage, book, etc.). Also: any of the various meanings of such a sequence of words. Cf. to take (something) in a —— sense at Phrases 1a(a).Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > [noun] > context > contextual meaning of word
sensea1382
powerc1450
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Job 2nd Prol. 670 Now woordis, now sens, now either togidere shal tellen out.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §468 The Menyng & the sens [c1410 Harl. 7334 the sentence, c1460 Rawl. Poet. 149 thentent] of this is þt the reson of a man ne consente nat to thilke sodeyn Ire, and thanne is it venyal.
c1450 (?c1425) St. Elizabeth of Spalbeck in Anglia (1885) 8 107 (MED) Þis englysche..is turnyd oute of latyn..and..þe wryter, þat is but symple-letterd, neiþer can ne purposis to folowe þe wordes, but vnneþis and wiþ harde þe sens.
a1500 (a1450) tr. Secreta Secret. (Ashm. 396) (1977) 19 (MED) This boke..I have translated..fro Arabik speche into Latyne..chesyng out omwhile a letter of a letter, omwhile sense of sense [a1500 Lamb. vndirstandynge of vndirstondynge; L. sensum ex sensu], that is to sey, wysedome of wisedome.
1521 in H. Bradshaw Lyfe St. Werburge 2nd balade sig. s.iii O frutefull histore..With termes exquised, and sence retoriall.
1560 T. H. tr. Ovid Fable Narcissus sig. Aiiii Thou speakest words, the sence whereof, myne eares can not deserne.
1611 Bible (King James) Neh. viii. 8 So they read in the booke, in the Law of God distinctly, and gaue the sense, and caused them to vnderstand the reading. View more context for this quotation
1684 Earl of Roscommon Ess. Translated Verse 22 The sound is still a Comment to the Sense.
1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. viii. 390 The King's Letter would not bear that sence.
a1768 T. Secker Serm. Several Subj. (1770) I. iii. 66 And lastly, Abstain from all Appearance of Evil. It might be translated, from every Kind of Evil. But even then, the Sense would be much the same.
1822 Asiatic Jrnl. & Monthly Reg. Feb. 147/2 A verse in which he not only mistook the sense, but likewise borrowed part of his translation from Professor Stewart.
1885 Diary of Actress vi. 87 How I got the words, or the sense of the words, into my head I don't know.
1921 L. E. Kastner & H. B. Charlton in Poet. Wks. Sir W. Alexander p. lxxxv Cinthio's own description of his chorus is not quite clear; its sense is less sure because the passages in which it occurs are amongst the most mutilated of the MS.
1971 P. Boyde Dante's Style in his Lyric Poetry 34 We do not need to catch every word in order to make out the sense of a sentence.
2001 W. Weaver tr. I. Svevo Zeno's Conscience 132 Listening to me with the expression of someone unable to grasp the sense of the words being spoken.
b. The general or overall meaning of written or spoken words; the gist, tenor, or essence of a book, letter, conversation, etc. Formerly in †to that sense: to that effect (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > [adverb]
formally1526
in the same sense1534
to that sense1594
explicitly1605
evolvedlya1641
on (also upon, from) the face of1719
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. Fv What euer the wordes were, the sense was this, Good drinke is a medicine for all diseases.
1653 J. Ash in Humble Remonstr. J. Stawell 26 I do not remember the very words contained in the said paper..; yet I do remember that the sense and substance of both was to this effect.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1673 (1955) IV. 22 Where he read..that he should not long Enjoy it, but should Die, or expressions to that sense.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 177. 2 I cannot recollect the Words, but the Sense of it is to this purpose. What I spent I lost. What I possessed is left to others. What I gave away remains with me.
1772 W. Jones Ess. Poetry Eastern Nations in Poems 177 This is the general sense of his remark.
1827 Oriental Herald Aug. 290 Rossetti gives us what he calls the skeleton of the first canto of the Inferno, in which we have the sense of it, divested of every allegorical veil.
1883 R. W. Dixon Mano i. iv. 9 Of this epistle Mano made the sense Ampler by various tidings that he brought.
1933 Pop. Sci. July 6/1 I went every day, making out the sense of what was said from the action of the play.
1967 A. L. Rowse Diary 11 Oct. (2003) 396 Clem ran through paperwork like a paper-knife, with fewest possible words, excellent at summing up the sense of a meeting.
2014 J. Golden Secrets in Vines 130 Mihai still didn't understand a word, but somehow got the sense of the conversation.
2. Chiefly with preceding modifying adjective, as literal, moral, spiritual, etc. Any of the various distinct meanings of a word or passage of the Bible. Also occasionally in extended use with reference to any text, verse, etc. Now chiefly historical.According to the principles of patristic exegesis, the Bible was interpreted as having a deeper or spiritual sense in addition to its literal sense. From the 5th cent. onwards in the West this approach was elaborated into the doctrine of the four senses: literal, spiritual, moral, and anagogic (other terms are also used). This method of interpretation was criticized in the Renaissance and Reformation, but has found favour again since the latter half of the 20th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > text > criticism, interpretation > [noun] > sense
sense?a1425
?a1425 (a1415) Lanterne of Liȝt (Harl.) (1917) 126 (MED) Þe werkis of man ben hise sones or hise douȝtren aftir goostli sens.
a1450 (a1397) Prol. Old Test. (Harl. 1666) in Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (1850) 54 The historial, either literal sense, and the mystik, either goostly sense, is taken vndir the same lettre.
c1450 ( Nightingale (Calig.) l. 16 in O. Glauning Minor Poems J. Lydgate (1900) 2 (MED) Commandyng theym to here wyth tendernesse Of this your nightyngale the gostly sense.
1517 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1928) vii. 31 To moralyse thy lytterall censes trewe.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 1 Cor. xiii. f. xxxv The gyft of prophecie, wherby I know all the secrete senses of the scriptures.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. iii. ii. 232 These Greekes, as in this point, so in all other, follow the literall sense of the Scriptures.
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. III ii. i. 118 The Papists make their Anagogic sense of Scripture correspondent to the Judaic Cabala.
1720 Rev. & Def. Mr. Mede's Expos. 48 The smiting Men with Ulcers, turning Waters into Blood, scorching 'em with great Heat.., are to be taken in the same tropological Sense.
a1770 J. Jortin Serm. (1771) I. i. 2 The ancient Christians too often imitated the Jews in finding out Senses in the Scriptures which were never intended.
1866 J. H. Newman Let. to Pusey 14 Secondary, symbolical, connotative senses of Scripture.
1889 W. T. Harris (title) The spiritual sense of Dante's ‘Divina Commedia’.
1907 Catholic Encycl. II. 652/2 It is an exaggeration to say that Bonaventure had regard only to the mystical sense of Scripture.
1952 Yale French Stud. 9 62 Old desires must be clarified and the lovers must grow in understanding. This is the final tropological or moral sense of the poem.
1994 Aquinas Rev. 1 i. 87 The allegorical, moral and anagogic senses of Scripture, understood as spiritual senses, differ..from all literary devices.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > parts of a written composition > [noun] > content or substance
sensea1450
sentiment1713
content1883
a1450 (a1397) Prol. Old Test. in Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Cambr. Mm.2.15) (1850) xv. 59 Austyn seith..that if equiuok wordis be not translatid into the sense, either vndurstonding, of the autour, it is errour.
1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus Prol. sig. Bijv Our play..vnder whose couert or darke meanyng, thou haste a secrete sence or hydde intent.
1566 J. Martiall Replie to Calfhills Blasphemous Answer v. f. 156 What frontitck phrensie inueigled your wittes that you durst make so open a lye? and interpreting the authours woordes corrupt his sense?
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) v. ii. 18 You are verie sencible, and yet you misse my sence: I meane Hortentio is afeard of you.
a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. viii. §5. 290 His Expositor, Elias Cretensis, deliuereth his sense in the same hight of words.
1685 J. Dryden Sylvæ Pref. sig. A5 I look'd on Virgil, as a succinct and grave Majestick Writer..aiming to crowd his sence into as narrow a compass as possibly he cou'd.
1710 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 20 July (1965) I. 44 I endeavour'd at no Beauty of Style but to keep as Litterally as I could to the Sense of the Author [sc. Epictetus].
1735 A. Pope Donne's Satires ii, in Wks. II. 126 Let no Court-Sycophant pervert my sense.
1833 N. Chipman Princ. of Govt. vi. iii. 180 It is a rule prescribed by the supreme power in the state, in the sense of the author as here expressed.
1871 W. S. Douglas in R. Burns Compl. Poet. Wks. II. (new ed.) 282 All that was requisite to restore the author's sense, was to transpose the opening words of these lines.
1900 W. P. Ker Ess. J. Dryden I. 243 The too close pursuing of the author's sense.
4.
a. The meaning of a written or spoken word, compound, or short phrase. Also: any of the various meanings of a word or short phrase; the meaning of a word in a particular collocation or context. In later use frequently with preceding adjective, as modern, exact, general, etc. Cf. to take (something) in a —— sense at Phrases 1a(a).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > [noun]
to owe a wolda1325
meaninga1387
significationa1398
understanding1433
pretensionc1443
intellect?a1475
tendment1519
sense1530
reciprocation1604
sensing1613
denotation1614
apprehension1615
explicitness1630
sounda1631
notion1646
bodementa1657
means1656
force1709
notation1829
connotation1865
content1875
territory1875
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement f. ccccxiiii Where re, signyfyeth in our tonge agayne he [read ne] is very moche vsed in this sence in ye composycion of verbes.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Pref. sig. Aiij The difficultie in the true expressynge the lyuely sence of the latine wordes.
1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. i. f. 22 We giue a large sense and signification to this woorde (ciuile).
1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. to Rdr. sig. B2v There bee some wordes that bee not of the same sense euery where.
1681 J. Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 30 Gull'd with a Patriot's name, whose Modern sense Is one that would by Law destroy his Prince.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. ii. 34 Here then are two different Senses of the Word Nature.
1785 Monthly Rev. 72 App. 72 M. Van Swinden begins by fixing judiciously the sense of the terms animal magnetism.
1828 J. G. Lockhart Life R. Burns ix. 369 That Burns lived fast, in both senses of the phrase, we have abundant evidence from himself.
1885 E. Gosse From Shakespeare to Pope 137 Literature, in the exact sense in which I use the word here, is a somewhat rare product.
1930 Time 8 Dec. 25/2 Professor Ramzin finally confessed to high treason in the commonly understood sense—not the special Soviet sense in which sabotage is construed as treasonable.
1978 P. Sutcliffe Oxf. Univ. Press v. iv. 181 The devoted, long-suffering Doble..had been an editor in most of the various senses of the word.
2008 D. J. Hand Statistics: Very Short Introd. ii. 22 I am using the word ‘universe’ here in a very general sense.
b. A meaning of a word, compound, or phrase identified by and recorded in a dictionary.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > semantics > meaning or signification > [noun] > recorded in dictionary
sense1755
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Pref. sig. b2v The solution of all difficulties, and supply of all defects, must be sought in the examples, subjoined to the various senses of each word.
1818 H. J. Todd Johnson's Dict. Eng. Lang. at Largeheartedness See the fourth sense of Largeness.
1887 W. W. Skeat Gospel St. Matthew in Anglo-Saxon p. vii See the fifth sense of the verb bield in Murray's New English Dictionary.
1914 N.E.D. Subscribe,..to issue a book to subscribers. Obs. A sense ‘to publish by subscription’ is given by some Dicts., but is not recognized by the trade.
1994 L. Guthrie et al. in N. Oostdijk & P. de Haan Corpus-based Res. into Lang. vi. 79 Lexicographers themselves do not always agree..about the way a word's use should be divided into senses.
2001 R. Stockwell & D. Minkova Eng. Words 187 The OED and all the Merriam-Webster dictionaries arrange their senses according to the dates when each sense first came into English.
5.
a. That which is wise, reasonable, or sensible. Formerly in †it is to (good) sense: it is wise, reasonable, or sensible (obsolete). Now chiefly in various phrases: see Phrases 1. Cf. nonsense n. I.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > employ reason [verb (intransitive)] > be in accord with
it is to (good) sense?1552
it stands to sense1681
to lie near1862
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > common sense > [noun] > something sensible
sense?1552
common sense1646
?1552 V. Leigh Pleasaunt Playne & Pythye Pathewaye (verso title page) This lytle boke wyth dylygence Se that ye reade and marke, Throughly notynge the good sence Contayned in this warke.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 98 He was often wont to say, that seeing England was lost and gone from her ancient faith..it was to good sense that we and all their posterity should be punished.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) 430 Against all sence you doe importune her. View more context for this quotation
1732 Misc. 23 Dec. 2/3 What Sense is there in such a Demand as this?
1798 Universal Mag. Jan. 27/2 It is very true, my dear, as you say, and there is a good deal of sense in it.
1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. ix. 187 ‘Aw sud more likker look for th' horse,’ he replied. ‘It 'ud be tuh more sense.’
1859 Habits Good Society 54 The more fashionable gave themselves up to extravagances of dress, and were distinguished for the smartness, not the sense of their conversation.
1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous iii. 65 ‘What's the sense o' wastin' canvas?’
1943 Harper's Bazaar Sept. 110/2 There is a lot of sense in facing the fact that the over-all supply is a lot lower than last year.
1997 P. Pullman Subtle Knife (1998) xii. 255 Mary are you mad? Where's the sense in behaving like that?
b. Written or spoken discourse that is sensible, coherent, or readily intelligible. Now only in various phrases: see Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > [noun] > not nonsense
sense1578
matter1600
1578 B. Rich Allarme to Eng. To Rdr. sig. *iij Some wil find faulte with my homely maner of inditing, and wil say, This is no good sense, or this is no true Englishe.
1607 F. Beaumont Woman Hater ii. sig. C4v You must not talke to him, as you do to an ordinary man, honest plaine sence; but you must winde about him.
1682 J. Dryden Mac Flecknoe 4 The rest, to some faint meaning make Pretence, But Shad[well] never deviates into Sence.
a1726 G. Sewell Posthumous Wks. (1728) 15 At last, One Wit stood up in our Defence, And dar'd (O Impudence!) to publish—Sense.
a1750 A. Hill Rom. Revenge (1753) iv. 74 Think of the Past; When pratling Childhood, yet, had learnt no Power, To lisp its little Meanings, into Sense.
1835 Meerut Universal Mag. 1 57 Began with nonsense, stumbled into sense, got spoony, squeezed, looked, twirled my thumbs.
1857 J. Ruskin Polit. Econ. Art i. 9 That is a wholly barbarous use of the word..for it is not English, it is bad Greek, and it is worse sense.
a. An idea or connected series of ideas considered to be independent of the language in which it is expressed, and able to be expressed in a different form; the meaning, substance or import of a passage, poem, letter, etc. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > drift, tenor, purport > [noun]
sentence?c1225
intent1303
tenora1387
intendment1390
strengthc1390
porta1393
meaningc1395
process1395
continencea1398
purposec1400
substance1415
purport1422
matterc1450
storyc1450
containing1477
contenu1477
retinue1484
fecka1500
content1513
drift1526
intention1532
vein1543
importing1548
scope1549
importance1552
course1553
force1555
sense?1556
file1560
intelliment?1562
proporta1578
preport1583
import1588
importment1602
carriage1604
morala1616
significancy1641
amount1678
purview1688
sentiment1713
capacity1720
spirit1742
message1828
thrust1968
messaging1977
?1556 E. P. in tr. T. Cranmer Confut. Verities vi. sig. I.viiv Al doctrine ought to be tryed by the canonicall in plaine sense: and not by wordes, that be darke, doubtful or figuratyue.
1582 T. Watson Ἑκατομπαθία: Passionate Cent. Loue lxxxvi. sig. L3v The sense of this Sonnet is for the most part taken out of a letter, which Æneas Syluius wrote vnto his friend.
1653 W. Master Λόγοι Εὔκαιροι 2 Some [writers] present us with daintyes at anothers cost: and thinke they shall Take much by converting the originall sense into their owne worse words.
1668 J. Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 60 We see Ben Iohnson confining himself to what ought to be said, even in the liberty of blank Verse; and yet Corneille..is still varying the same sence an hundred wayes, and dwelling eternally upon the same subject, though confin'd by Rhyme.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. lii. 197 She took the pen, and.., supported by Mrs. Lovick, wrote the conclusion... You will find the sense surprizingly intire, her weakness considered.
b. A written passage of simple English prose given to a schoolchild as the basis for the composition of Latin or Greek verses. Also allusively with reference to a writing assignment of any kind. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > [noun] > used as material for verse
sense1693
1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §162. 203 It is usual, in such cases, for the poor Children, to go to those of Higher Forms with this Petition, Pray give me a little Sense.
1765 G. Williams in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1843) I. 361 When you write next to me, give me some sense, as the boys say, that I may answer for you as often as you are attacked.
1892 W. Cory Let. 16 Jan. in Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 564 Write a paper on governesses. I can give you ‘sense’, as the boys say about verses.
7. A particular, a point, a detail; a particular or respect in terms of which a thing can be judged, considered, or evaluated. Only in adverbial phrases, as in a (also no, any, etc.) sense: in a (no, any, etc.) way; in a (no, any, etc.) respect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > semantics > meaning or signification > [adverb] > according to particular meaning
in a (also no, any, etc.) sense1562
1562 T. Cooper Answere Def. Truth f. 76v, in Apol. Priuate Masse The .xiiii. cannon of Nicene councel in no sence doth proue sole receiuinge, as you would haue it seeme to doo.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) v. ii. 146 It blots thy beautie... And in no sence is meete or amiable. View more context for this quotation
1659 Five Proposals (single sheet) That you would lay aside the thoughts of a Government by a single Person, in any sence whatsoever.
1718 W. Wood Surv. Trade 317 Tho' we destroyed so many capital Ships of France the two last Wars, yet..in some sence, the Naval Strength of France is rather encreased than diminished.
1745 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 June (1966) II. 353 This is the first prize that ever came to my share, and it is owing to your Ladiship in all senses.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest IV. xviii. 228 That one among the Conqueror's children who alone could be looked on as in any sense an Englishman.
a1881 A. Barratt Physical Metempiric (1883) 110 The consciousness of the body is of course in a sense its inner nature.
1917 I. Hay All in It viii. 149 It was in every sense a gala meal.
1954 A. Huxley Doors of Perception 40 In a certain sense disintegration may have its advantages.
2003 Press Gaz. 19 Dec. 12/1 It is important—and this is not in any sense to justify what is done by either side—but it is important to report the context in which these things take place.
8. The meaning or interpretation of something obscure, mysterious, or enigmatic; esp. a dream. Also occasionally figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > particular interpretation, construction > [noun]
interpretation1387
intendment1390
sense1584
construction1592
reading1624
turn1688
construal1960
take1977
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > significance of a dream
swepea1325
wielda1325
meaningc1384
sense1584
1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus Famous Hyst. i. f. 11 It is needful then yt sithence your grace hath mist the blanke, I lay open vnto you the true meaning and sence of the dreame.
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster Prol. sig. A3v 'Gainst these, haue we put on this forc't defense: Whereof the Allegory and hid sense Is, that a well erected Confidence Can fright their pride, and laugh their follie hence.
1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine i. iv. 9 Which passage may serve as a parable, whereof our Saviour himself is the sense.
1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xv. 317 What we call the moral, is the unfigured sense or meaning of the Allegory.
1861 tr. A. Rodríguez Pract. Christian & Relig. Perfection II. iv. xvii. 319 He triumphed also over Sampson by means of Dalila, and thus found out the sense of the riddle, and the source of his strength.
1892 A. Rogers tr. M. A. Jámí Bk. Joseph & Zuleikhá 185 As Joseph's tale and the dream's sense were told, Did as a rosebud the king's heart unfold.
1910 H. W. Chase tr. S. Freud in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 21 202 The dreamer, then, knows just as little the sense of his dream as the hysterical knows the relation and significance of his symptoms.
2010 Jrnl. Biblical Lit. 129 87 This ‘hero’ has confidence that God will reveal the sense of the dream to him.
9.
a. A direction, esp. one of two opposite directions.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > [noun] > course or direction of movement
runeeOE
runningOE
pathOE
wayOE
tracea1300
coursec1380
coursec1380
racec1390
recourse?c1425
situation1517
journey?a1560
track1565
roadway1600
career?1614
direction1665
by-run1674
sensea1679
meith1726
heading1841
a1679 T. Hobbes Seven Philos. Probl. (1682) i. 6 Seeing the Axis of the Earth in this Nation, and in the annual motion keeps parallel to it self, the Axis must in both motions be parallel as to sense.
1742 R. Long Astron. I. ii. ii. 242 The axis of the earth extended both ways terminates as to sense, in the same points of the heaven, throughout the year.
1793 S. J. Rudim. Reason I. 136 But when the direct motion is sufficiently slackened by friction, the motion of rotation acting in a contrary sense brings it back towards the place whence it departed.
1797 G. Staunton Authentic Acct. Embassy to China II. ii. 88 Cords were attached to the canvas, with a contrivance to enable persons underneath, to move it in any sense that was necessary.
1845 London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. & Jrnl. Sci. Feb. 103 The maximum of [barometric] pressure is at 6 A.M.; the minimum at 2 P.M. The progressions take place in the opposite or inverse sense.
1897 C. B. Davenport Exper. Morphol. I. 116 Closely allied species may have geotaxis of opposite sense.
1900 H. C. Jones Theory Electrolytic Dissoc. 61 If the reaction is reversible..then there will exist a force which tends to stop the original reaction, and to set up one in exactly the opposite sense.
1999 New Scientist 7 Aug. 30/3 Along with the monopolar and dipolar vortices, van Heijst's tank occasionally produces a tripolar vortex, consisting of a single large vortex flanked [by] two smaller ones rotating in the opposite sense.
2001 F. M. Harold Way of Cell v. 88 Frequently and randomly the sense of rotation is abruptly reversed, the flagellar bundle flies apart and the cell tumbles.
b. Geometry. Either of the two possible directions with respect to which certain quantities or objects can be defined; esp. either of the two directions along an orientated line a vector can take, as determined by which of the vector's end points is its head.The direction of a vector is determined by both its sense and orientation.
ΚΠ
1879 O. Henrici Elem. Geom. Pref. p. xi Another innovation consists in the early introduction of the notion of ‘sense’ in a line or an angle.
1894 H. W. L. Hime Outl. Quaternions i. i. 2 No two vectors are equal unless they have, first, equal lengths, and, secondly, similar directions—the phrase ‘similar directions’ meaning ‘parallel directions with the same sense’.
1947 R. Courant & H. E. Robbins What is Math.? (ed. 4) iii. 159 Although inversion preserves the magnitude of angles, it reverses their sense.
1977 D. Holland & T. Treeby Vectors i. 10 The vector (1/a)a is a unit vector in the direction and sense of a.
2002 H. Josephs & R. L. Huston Dynamics Mech. Syst. i. 5 In this context, vectors are seen to have several characteristics: magnitude, orientation, and sense.
10. Molecular Biology. attributive. With reference to the genetic code: designating a sequence of nucleotides in DNA which codes for an amino acid or protein, and the identical sequence (save for substitution of uracil for thymine) in messenger RNA (mRNA); (also) designating a strand of duplex DNA or a molecule of mRNA containing such a sequence. Contrasted with antisense adj.When used of DNA, the meanings of ‘sense’ and ‘antisense’ are sometimes reversed, with ‘sense’ designating DNA having a sequence complementary to, rather than identical with, that of mRNA (and from which the mRNA is transcribed). Cf. quots. 1972 and 2005.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [adjective] > DNA or RNA > of parts of DNA
sense1958
redundant1962
nucleosomal1975
antisense1977
1957 F. H. C. Crick et al. in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 43 418 Using the metaphors of coding, we say that some of the triplets make sense and some make nonsense.]
1958 M. Yčas in Symp. Information Theory Biol. 1956 91 They [sc. Crick et al.] solve this problem by assuming that only certain triplets of nucleotides correspond to an amino acid (sense sites), while others do not (non-sense sites).
1965 D. S. Hogness in Science 15 Oct. 375/1 Call the sequence of bases in messenger RNA the sense sequence. For a given gene, one of the DNA strands contains the sense sequence and the other contains a sequence that can be termed antisense.
1972 Molecular & Gen. Genetics 118 61 The codogenic or ‘sense’ DNA strand for various genes is conveniently identified by its ability to specifically hybridize with its complementary messenger RNA.
1988 P. W. Kuchel et al. Schaum's Outl. Theory & Probl. Biochem. xvii. 493 Each strand of the duplex DNA would be functioning as both sense and antisense strands, but for two different RNA transcripts.
1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 3018/2 If the anti-sense RNA interacts with the sense RNA, a biomolecular reaction has to be postulated.
2005 New Scientist 10 Sept. 20/1 In the conventional picture, only one of the twin strands that make up the DNA double helix—the so-called ‘sense’ strand—is copied into a single strand of messenger RNA (mRNA).
II. Senses related to the faculties of the mind, brain, or body.† 16. Capacity for mental sensitivity or responsiveness; sensibility. Obsolete.† 18. Capacity for physical sensation or feeling within the body or a part of the body; liability to feel bodily pain or discomfort. Cf. to the sense at Phrases 2b. Obsolete.
11. Natural understanding or intelligence, esp. in relation to practical matters arising in everyday life; the ability to make sound judgements and sensible decisions regarding such matters. See common sense n. 4a, 4b, good sense n. See also Phrases 2c.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > common sense > [noun]
witc1175
sensea1382
conscience1449
mother witc1475
common wit1517
common sense1536
philosophy1557
good sense?1562
sconce1567
mother-sense1603
ingenuity1651
bonsense1681
rumgumption1686
nous1706
gumption?1719
rummlegumption1751
savvy1785
horse sense1832
kokum1848
sabe1872
common1899
marbles1902
gump1920
loaf1925
a1382 Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) vi. l. 27 What euer þei siggen: þey wenen it be þe lawe of god, ne þey dedeynen to knowe what þe prophetes..feeleden, bot to her own sense [a1425 Corpus Oxf. cense; L.V. a1450 New Coll. Oxf. wit; L. sensum]: schapen yncouenable wittnesis as þouȝ it were grete: & not vycyous maner of seying, to depraue sentenseȝ.
in tr. Palladius De Re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) Prol. 7 (MED) So sende he me sense and science, Of my balade away to rade errour.
1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) lx. sig. Ov As folkes deuoyde of sence and vnderstondynge, they be neuer satysfyed with goodes.
1568 W. Fulwood Enimie Idlenesse i. f. 56 I haue so good an estimation of you, that you are not deuoide of sense, but that shortly you will perceiue your errour.
1607 T. Middleton Michaelmas Terme iv. sig. Hv Onely good confidence did make him foolish, And not the lack of Sence.
1690 J. Norris Refl. upon Conduct Human Life 42 'Tis reckon'd a notable point of Learning to understand variety of Languages. This alone gives a Man a Title to Learning without one Grain of Sense.
1727 J. Arbuthnot John Bull i. viii. in J. Swift et al. Misc. II. 19 The Parson of the Parish preaching one Day with more Zeal than Sense [1712 a little sharply] against Adultery.
1735 J. Hervey Let. 18 Nov. in W. Coxe Mem. Life & Admin. Sir R. Walpole (1798) III. 303 Sure she must have some extraordinary occult qualitys to be able to have made herself, without beauty, mistress to a king, and her husband, without sense, his first minister.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. vi. i. 220 You speak, ma'am, like a lady of sense.
1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. iv. 80 They entirely refused to have it [sc. a foundling] in bed with them,..and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs.
1880 G. Meredith Tragic Comedians II. iii. 36 Alvan had a saying, that want of courage is want of sense.
1910 J. Galsworthy Justice iii. i. 62 You'd think an old lag like him would have more sense by now.
1947 M. McLaverty Game Cock & Other Stories 190 When all was said and done, she had some sense in her head.
2003 C. Birch Turn again Home iv. 66 And you can shut up too! You've got no more sense than him.
12.
a. Originally: any of the faculties of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; any of the five senses; †an organ of sense (obsolete); (in plural sometimes) these faculties collectively as opposed to the intellect, spirit, etc. In later use more generally: any of the faculties by which external or internal stimuli are perceived, involving the transmission of nerve impulses from specialized neurons (receptors) to the brain. Occasionally with preceding modifying adjective, as outward sense, external sense. Also with of-phrase specifying the faculty, as sense of hearing.In addition to the traditional five senses, the faculties perceiving temperature, pressure, body position and movement, and pain are now usually regarded as senses. Certain animals possess senses absent in humans, such as the faculty of perceiving electromagnetic fields or water pressure.special sense: see special adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sense organ > [noun]
windowc1230
organala1500
sense?1504
sensator1615
sensory1624
sensitory1649
sensatory1673
sense organ1826
sensoriolum1843
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > a sense
witOE
sensibility?a1425
sense?1504
sensation1657
?1504 W. Atkinson tr. Thomas à Kempis Ful Treat. Imytacyon Cryste (Pynson) iii. lix. sig. Pii He wyl also apere forth warde and haue the syght and experiens of many thynges by his outwarde senses.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Bviiv Wyssheth that he neuer had hadde eyes to se..nother eares to here..ne other senses to haue knowen [etc.].
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 33 To the hede wyth the yes yerys & other sensys therin.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1623) iv. ii. 158 Mine Eyes, mine Eares, or any Sence.
1647 A. Cowley Mistresse 14 My Reason strait did to my Senses shew, That they might be mistaken too.
1699 G. Farquhar Love & Bottle i. 5 I must have the evidence of more senses than one to confirm me of its truth.
1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. ii. 56 The only defect of our senses is, that they give us disproportion'd images of things.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 62 My sense of hearing is painfully acute.
1808 Farmer's Mag. Mar. 72 Farmers..have the external senses in sufficient perfection to perceive the advantages of a comfortable habitation.
1841 R. W. Emerson Prudence in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 224 The world of the senses is a world of shows.
1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vi. 206 A return towards the life of the senses and the understanding.
1875 Old & New Feb. 227/1 She lost her senses by scarlet-fever so early, that she has no recollections of any exercise of them.
1904 Sci. Amer. 9 Jan. 31/3 The snail has a good sense of smell.
1933 R. C. Hutchinson Unforgotten Prisoner vii. 168 He stood with all his senses keyed to catch the slightest sound or motion.
1986 New Scientist 15 May 70/2 Everyone at the scene experienced the same sensation of incredulity: a strong urge to deny the evidence of their senses.
2002 Guardian 26 Aug. i. 8/8 Sharks have natural electrodetectors on their heads to provide an extra sense.
b. The bodily senses considered as a single faculty in contrast to intellect, reason, will, etc.; the exercise or function of this faculty. Occasionally with the.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > the senses > as opposed to higher faculties
sense1533
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > a sense > as indicated by context
sense1533
1533 T. Elyot Of Knowl. Wise Man ii. f. 32v Of all that whiche bereth the name of a thynge, there be two kyndes, one hath no bodye.., the other hath a body... The way to know the fyrste is called raison, & the knowlege therof is namid vnderstanding. The way to know the. ii. is called Sense or feling, the knowlege therof is named Perceiuinge.
1599 J. Davies Nosce Teipsum 45 Since mans wit Found th'art of Cookerie, to delight his Sense, More bodies are consum'd and kild with it, Then with the sword.
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) ii. §15. 180 Thus wee adore vertue, though to the eyes of sense shee bee invisible. View more context for this quotation
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 76 The process of making Inck being..noysom and ungrateful to the Sence.
1733 A. Pope Ess. Man i. 208 What thin partitions Sense from Thought divide.
a1774 O. Goldsmith Surv. Exper. Philos. (1776) I. 319 One mass of corruption, equally displeasing to the sense, and injurious to the health.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. xiii. 336 The fearful picture of a vision, which appals my sense with hideous fantasies.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 135 Who forged that other influence, That heat of inward evidence, By which he doubts against the sense?
1902 Metaphysical Mag. Oct. 101 While the mind trusts the evidence of sense, it is in the same state of delusion.
1966 J. H. Finley Four Stages of Greek Thought iii. 56 They stood between two worlds, dazzled by ideas yet never quite willing to cut the bonds of sense.
2015 E. Hammer Adorno's Modernism vi. 176 Works of art..appeal to sense as well as intellect.
c. A faculty conjectured to exist in addition to the five senses; a hypothetical faculty of perception. Often with preceding ordinal number, esp. sixth: see sixth sense n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > a sense > conjectured
sense1621
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. i. ii. vi. 33 Touching, Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, Tasting; to which you may adde Scaligers sixt sense of Titillation, if you please.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. ii. 46 Had Mankind been made with but four Senses, the Qualities then, which are the Object of the Fifth Sense, had been as far from our notice, Imagination, and Conception, as now any belonging to a Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Sense, can possibly be.
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. ii. 72 We may possibly be capable of twenty senses, but being provided with inlets only for five, have no more conception of the others than a blind man has of light.
1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 28 July in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) vi. 379 Certainly it was within God's power to create beings who should communicate with nature by innumerable other senses than these few which we possess.
2003 F. Tanaka Samurai Fighting Arts 108 Students must develop their inner consciousness to a much profounder degree: through the seventh sense, called manashiki; the eighth sense, arayashiki; to the ninth sense, kushiki shinnō.
13. Frequently in plural. A faculty or power of the mind or (in early use) the soul, such as imagination, reflection, memory, etc., often explicitly or implicitly contrasted with the bodily senses. Frequently with a preceding modifying adjective, as inner sense, interior sense, internal sense, inward sense. Cf. moral sense n. at moral adj. Compounds 2. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > [noun] > as opposed to matter
sense1519
mind1745
spiritualism1834
1519 D. James tr. M. Civilis in tr. Catherine of Siena Orcharde of Syon (de Worde) sig. iij This booke is not ordeyned for to delyte & please the eeres & the outwarde senses, but to instructe the soule, and to comforte the inwarde senses.
1550 T. Nicolls tr. C. de Seyssel in Thucydides Peloponnesian War Prol. f. viv That is very harde,..for to wythdrawe all oure senses [Fr. sentemens] of the soule, Ioyned wyth them of the body..and to apply them..to the contemplatyon of thynges spyrytuall.
?1566 J. Alday tr. P. Boaistuau Theatrum Mundi sig. Tiiij Knowing that he had to exercise his fancie and other interior senses [Fr. sens interieurs].
1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) i. iii. 102 Not sensibly champing it with their teeth but partaking it by the sence of the soule.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. i. 38 This Source of Ideas, every Man has wholly in himself: And though it be not Sense, as having nothing to do with external Objects; yet it is very like it, and might properly enough be call'd internal Sense. But as I call the other Sensation, so I call this Reflection.
1729 W. Law Serious Call xiv. 256 They would soon see, that the spirit of devotion was like any other sense or understanding.
1779 Mirror No. 48. ⁋3 The truth of perception, in our internal senses, employed in morals and criticism.
1809 S. T. Coleridge Friend 28 Sept. 107 (note) His sensations, and impressions, whether of his outward senses, or the inner sense of imagination.
1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. i. 10 All the senses, if you might so call them, of the soul..that is, the affections and the perceptions.
1946 M. E. Boylan This Tremendous Lover (1947) ix. 117 That internal sense which is called the imagination, tries to form some corresponding picture or phantasm of the same object.
1976 D. N. Robinson Intellect. Hist. Psychol. vii. 209 Reflection..is an internal sense able to examine the deposited sensations in the larger context of our general, emotional state.
2013 R. Pinsky Singing School iv. 152 In Burton's premodern psychology Memory, too, is an inward sense.
14.
a. In plural. The combined faculties of sensation and perception, including but not limited to the five senses (see sense 12a), which are rendered inert or inactive when their possessor is asleep or otherwise unconscious; the faculties of sensation and perception in a state of wakefulness or alertness. Also occasionally in singular: a faculty of this kind. Cf. to come to —— 2a at come v. Phrasal verbs 2.Sometimes not easily distinguishable from sense 12a or sense 17. See also seven senses n. at seven adj. and n. Compounds 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun]
anyitOE
eyesightc1175
sightc1175
sentimentc1374
mindc1384
intentc1386
fantasyc1400
savoura1425
spiritsc1450
perceiverancea1500
perceiverationa1500
senses1528
perceivance1534
sense1553
kenc1560
mind-sight1587
knowledge1590
fancy1593
animadversion1596
cognition1651
awaring1674
perception1678
scan1838
apperception1848
perceivedness1871
1528 T. Wyatt tr. Plutarch Quyete of Mynde sig. Dii In to this temple [sc. the world] man is admytted whan he is borne nat to be holde karuyn ymages wantyng senses [L. sensus expertia].
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. John xi. f. lxxvii It had bene a lacking of senses [L. stuporem], or but a swouning, & no death.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 (2nd issue) iii. i. 8 Ô sleepe..how haue I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eye-liddes downe, And steep my sences in forgetfulnesse. View more context for this quotation
1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Sigismonda & Guiscardo in Fables 151 The creeping Death Benum'd her Senses first, then stopp'd her Breath.
a1771 T. Gray Fragm. Hymn to Ignorance 176 in Poems (1775) ii Do'st thou..dews Lethean thro' the land dispense To steep in slumbers each benighted sense?
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 439 Before ten his senses were gone.
1892 A. Bierce In Midst of Life 109 He seated himself on a log, and, with senses all alert, began his vigil.
1933 E. Balmer & P. Wylie When Worlds Collide xxv. 249 Nauseated, terrified, overwhelmed, their senses foundered, and many of them lapsed into unconsciousness.
1990 T. E. Simmons Escape from Archangel 122 Now sleep, which a few hours ago would have killed him in the cold, warmly overwhelmed his senses.
2015 M. W. Bowman Voices in Flight vi. 67 He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his body and, as far as he knew, recovered his senses a few seconds later.
b. The faculty of sensation and perception in a person or (occasionally) an animal from which thought, volition, and awareness of the external world arise; consciousness. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun]
anyitOE
eyesightc1175
sightc1175
sentimentc1374
mindc1384
intentc1386
fantasyc1400
savoura1425
spiritsc1450
perceiverancea1500
perceiverationa1500
senses1528
perceivance1534
sense1553
kenc1560
mind-sight1587
knowledge1590
fancy1593
animadversion1596
cognition1651
awaring1674
perception1678
scan1838
apperception1848
perceivedness1871
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation
sensible virtuea1398
sensualityc1405
sensitivec1487
sense1553
sensible capacity1593
sentient1603
sensibility1610
1553 J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. vii, 138 The kyng was brought in great daunger, being striken in the necke with a stone, so that he lost his sight, and was felled to the earth so that he lost his sence.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. xx. 57 Pictures, which are but dead things, & in whom there is no sence or feeling.
a1645 W. Laud Diary in Hist. Troubles (1695) I. 52 I found him past Sense, and giving up the Ghost.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 289 There gentle sleep..with soft oppression seis'd My droused sense . View more context for this quotation
a1699 A. Halkett Autobiogr. (1875) 8 Hee fell downe in a chaire that was behind him, but as one without all sence.
1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. Pref. p. iv Through every species of animal life,..to that point where sense is wholly extinct, and vegetation commences.
1805 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Inferno I. vi. 1 My sense reviving, that erewhile had droop'd With pity for the kindred shades.
1842 W. Wordsworth Guilt & Sorrow x, in Poems Early & Late Years 10 He fell, and without sense or motion lay.
1910 G. G. Coulton tr. Thomas of Cantimpré in Life in Middle Ages 122 Losing sense and speech at once, he died on the third day like a brute beast without the sacraments of the Church.
1978 M. Das Fables & Fantasies for Adults 129 Since recovering her sense, all she did was laugh and cry.
15.
a. In plural. The faculties of physical sensation, esp. the five senses (see sense 12a), considered as the means of exciting or satisfying sexual or sensual desire. Also occasionally in singular: a faculty of this kind.In early use sometimes with pejorative connotations. Now chiefly a contextual use of sense 12a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > the senses
the fivefold mightsa1200
five witsc1200
passionsa1425
senses?1530
common senses1533
fifteen wits1606
Cinque Ports1633
cinque outposts, posts1649
perceptions1666
perceptives1835
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > the senses > as channels for gratifying desire
senses?1530
sensuals1641
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual desire > [noun] > physical sense as means of satisfying sexual desire > collectively
senses?1530
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual desire > [noun] > physical sense as means of satisfying sexual desire
senses1720
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > a sense > as channel for gratifying desire
senses1720
?1530 tr. J. Colet Serm. Conuocacion Paulis sig. A.vi There is nothyng loked fore more diligently..of the most parte of prestes, than that that dothe delite & please the senses [L. sensuique placeat]?
c1600 Pilgrimage iv, in Three Parnassus Plays (1949) 119 Ile bringe you to sweet wantoninge yonge maides Wheare you shall all youre hungrie sences feaste.
a1657 W. Mure in Wks. (1898) I. 52 Thy beutyes did my sensses suire suppryse, Or eir thy sight my ravischt eyes did blesse.
1720 D. Manley Power of Love iv. 239 To take in whole Nature..and have her every Sense gratify'd with the agreeable Feast of Variety!
1819 P. B. Shelley Cenci i. i. 5 Seeing I please my senses as I list.
1900 Cosmopolitan Oct. 620/1 What had he been doing all his life? Gratifying his senses; and they had grown master of him.
1929 W. Savage tr. É. Driault True Visage Napoleon 35 Bonaparte lost his heart, his senses were enthralled.
1970 M. Evans Spenser's Anat. Heroism iv. 73 The same forces appear in a more insidiously tempting form when they besiege his senses in the Bower.
2011 D. Rossetti Guilty as Sin ii. 18 Liseriel's perfume invaded his senses.
b. The faculty of physical sensation from which sexual or sensual desire and pleasure arise. Now somewhat rare.
ΚΠ
1536 T. Revel tr. F. Lambert Summe Christianitie i. f. 3 The lyeng and reprouable sense [L. sensu], and iudgement of the flesshe, then reynyng.
1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde To Rdr. sig. a.i Brute beastes.., beinge ruled altogether by sence, delyte in nothynge but beastely appetites.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) ii. ii. 174 Can it be, That Modesty may more betray our Sence Then womans lightnesse? View more context for this quotation
1709 I. Watts Horæ Lyricæ (ed. 2) i. 74 Flesh and Sense enslav'd to Sin Draw best Thoughts away.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 7 But small the bliss that sense alone bestows, And sensual bliss is all this nation knows.
1852 M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna, & Other Poems ii. 374 Some bondage of the flesh.., Some slough of sense.
1871 J. R. Macduff Memories of Patmos xviii. 249 The life of sense—the life of selfish and sensuous pleasure.
1942 S. E. Frost Basic Teachings Great Philosophers v. 148 Man..can give himself over to sense and the bodily passions or conquer these and rise to the divine.
1996 W. Goldhurst in E. W. Carlson Compan. Poe Stud. vii. 160 The elder brother perishes because he is a slave to sense, instinct, and emotion.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > [noun]
sufferancec1374
passibilitya1398
passibleness?a1425
sense1536
resentment1640
impressiveness1663
impressibility1751
susceptibility1782
responsiveness1791
impressionability1835
affectability1836
affectivity1854
responsivitya1856
impressionableness1858
suscipiency1885
1536 R. Taverner tr. P. Melanchthon Apol. sig. Z.iiij, in Confessyon Fayth Germaynes Neyther be we so harde harted, & so without sense or felyng, that the open offensions of people do nothynge moue nor trouble our myndes.
1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge iv. i. sig. G2v I should be deade of sense, to viewe defame Blur my bright loue.
1608 Yorkshire Trag. sig. C Sir you haue much wrought with mee, I feele you in my soule... I neuer had sence til now.
1762 London Chron. 16 Feb. 163/2 To make the fears, cries, pains, wounds, and agonies of any thing that has sense and feeling, the object of one's mirth and diversion!
17.
a. The thinking or reasoning faculty of the human mind in a normal or undisturbed state; reason, sanity, wits. In later use only in to be in one's right sense (cf. to be in one's right mind at right adj. 8a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > [noun]
healthc1000
in witc1000
i-mindOE
mindc1380
reasonc1405
wit-state?c1450
common sense1536
sense1536
senses1540
soundness1548
sanitya1616
wisdoma1616
mental health?1650
saneness1727
mens sana1853
balance1856
lucidity1874
clear-headedness1882
the mind > mental capacity > [noun] > power or faculty > in normal sane condition
wit1340
sense1536
senses1540
1536 T. Starkey Pref. Kynges Hyghnes f. 13v There is no man so madde and so with out sence, that aboue all thinge in his harte desyreth not to inioye and imbrace this quietnesse and tranquillitie.
a1592 R. Greene Hist. Orlando Furioso (1594) sig. Hiiv Nere was the Queene of Cypres halfe so glad, As is Angelica to see her Lord, Her deare Orlando settled in his sense.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xviii. 9 In the restoring his bereued sence.
1694 W. Penn Brief Acct. Rise Quakers v. 99 He had the Comfort of a short Illness, and the Blessing of a clear Sense to the last.
1751 A. McDouall Inst. Laws Scotl. I. 205 A lunatic, or one that has lost his sense and understanding by accident,..may recover his memory and judgment.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna vi. xv. 135 I lost all sense or care, And like the rest I grew desperate and unaware.
1870 Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours Feb. 123/2 I..almost lost my sense and reason at the sight of an eye peering cautiously out from the folds of the satin damask curtain.
1916 Storyteller's Mag. Feb. 121 Had I been in my right sense before, my son would not have died.
2015 Daily Trust (Abuja) (Nexis) 2 July We assumed that he was not in his right sense, so we started walking away.
b. In plural. The thinking or reasoning faculties of the human mind in a normal or undisturbed state; reason; sanity; wits. Also in various phrases: see Phrases 2a.Sometimes not easily distinguishable from sense 14a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > [noun]
healthc1000
in witc1000
i-mindOE
mindc1380
reasonc1405
wit-state?c1450
common sense1536
sense1536
senses1540
soundness1548
sanitya1616
wisdoma1616
mental health?1650
saneness1727
mens sana1853
balance1856
lucidity1874
clear-headedness1882
the mind > mental capacity > [noun] > power or faculty > in normal sane condition
wit1340
sense1536
senses1540
1540 L. Ridley Comm. vpon Sayncte Paules Epyst. to Ephesyans vi. sig. O.2 They make them starke foles, and without senses, as they be that be angry or in a fury.., that for a tyme they can nat tel what they say or do.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xv. 16 With a Harquebuse and a Crossebow bent (as cleane bereft of sences) [he] made towardes his enemies.
1619 R. B. tr. H. Bünting Itinerarium Totius Sacræ Scripturæ 43 The old men were destroyed by the pestilence, the contagion of which disease taking away their senses, they became madde.
1679 L. Addison Life & Death Mahumed xv. 78 A light Fever, which at length increased to such violence, that..it seem'd to bereave him of his senses.
1720 E. Lloyd tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia I. xii. 118 I can no longer bear, that thou shouldst here preserve thy Senses, while we are all drunk.
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho IV. iii. 46 Sometimes he would be in such fits of violence, that we almost thought he had lost his senses.
a1817 J. Austen Northanger Abbey (1818) I. vii. 85 This brother of yours would persuade me out of my senses, Miss Morland. View more context for this quotation
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 107 To maddle, to be fond of to the extent of losing one's senses in the matter.
1943 S. Jameson Cloudless May xxxi. 193 Choose whether you'll sleep with her or leave it to someone with more of his senses about him.
1986 F. Iyayi Heroes (1989) xxi. 174 The war is a madhouse but that doesn't mean we have lost all our senses.
2013 Western Morning News (Nexis) 2 May 11 If you are not out of your senses you would go to your local vet!
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun]
passibilitya1398
passibleness?a1425
sensibleness?a1425
sensibility?c1425
sense1538
perceptibility1642
sensitiveness1651
passivity1664
aesthesia1829
sentience1839
sentiencya1850
sensitivity1856
sensation1869
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Stupentia, uel stupida membra, the membres whiche haue loste all their sence or feling.
1576 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (rev. ed.) II. 1977/2 He did lye..with his heeles so hye, yt by meanes the bloud was fallen from his feete, his feet wer almost without sense for a long tyme.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 8 For the most vitall parts are not the quickest of sence.
1692 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 2) i. 150 A..nervous Ligament..apt to stretch and shrink again as need requires, and void of sence.
1739 J. Sparrow tr. H. F. Le Dran Observ. Surg. xcix. 326 He was without Sense, and cold all over his Body.
1759 T. Wallis Farrier's & Horseman's Compl. Dict. at Teeth But all within the sockets of the jaws is..covered with a thin membrane of exquisite sense.
19.
a. A faculty, esp. of an intuitive nature, of accurately perceiving, discerning, or evaluating. Frequently with of.In quot. 1609 as a mass noun.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > intuition > [noun]
sense1555
light of nature1561
intuitiona1600
instinct1600
perception1701
persentiscency1712
sixth sense1761
Anschauung1820
intuitiveness1873
intuitivism1883
seerhood1884
third eye1921
radar1949
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun] > state of awareness > of particular things
consciencec1384
sense1555
self-perception1666
sense of direction1836
aliveness1870
self-awareness1876
autoscopy1903
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > intuition > natural impulse, instinct > [noun] > instinctive perception
sense1555
instinct1598
flair1881
inconscience1891
1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. West Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 193 This catte..by a pryuie sense of nature feareth the daunger which he can not escape.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. xix. sig. M4v This Basilius (hauing the quicke sense of a louer) tooke, as though his Mistres had giuen a secret reprehension.
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. vi. 55 A woman of quick sence.
1695 tr. C. Fleury Hist., Choice, & Method Stud. ii. 69 Children..have a very quick Sense whereby they can discern the Passions by the Visage, and all External Motions.
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. iii. v. 339 These little Frogs..as well as Worms and other Insects, having a quick Sense of an approaching Change of Weather.
1775 Monthly Rev. Feb. 152 A good translator..must have a quick and delicate sense of what is proper and becoming..that he may perceive the beauties of the original.
1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii II. xi. 173 Her sense of right and wrong was confused by a passion to which she had so madly surrendered herself.
1885 Cassell's Family Mag. Oct. 619/2 He had a wide knowledge of dialect, and also a keen sense of when to use it.
1952 Aeronautics Sept. 130 The seldom witnessed vertical roll..requires a much finer sense of timing.
2010 Independent 14 June 36 Phoebe Philo has always had an unerring sense of what women really want to wear.
b. Intuitive knowledge or ability relating to a particular subject, sphere of activity, etc.; intuitive knowledge of how to act or behave in particular circumstances; (also) an instance of this. With preceding modifying noun.clothes sense, colour sense, dress sense, road sense, time sense: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1854 Dwight's Jrnl. Music 11 Nov. 45/2 Was not the time..held back to a degree slightly uncomfortable—or was it the smoke, obfusticating our time-sense?
1888 Amer. Mag. June 192/1 Another little touch of Dickens, as a dramatic critic, demonstrating that knowledge of stage-sense which he is supposed to have lacked, is found in this note.
1896 School Educ. July 40/1 Subconsciousness is a great factor in the development of the music sense in children.
1923 G. Atherton Black Oxen vii. 23 The reportorial news-sense died painlessly.
1988 Bicycling Oct. 8 Maybe Descente can apply its fashion sense to the dull-looking tires manufacturers have been forcing on us for years.
2003 I. Ferguson Village Small Houses v. 85 He had enough bush sense even at seven years of age to keep himself alive.
20. Capacity for perception and appreciation of an abstract quality or concept, esp. one that is highly regarded or valued. Chiefly with of (occasionally for). Formerly also: †ability or taste in matters of artistic judgement (obsolete).sense of humour: see humour n. Phrases 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > [noun]
good tastea1400
sensea1616
epicurism1655
gusto1663
fancyc1665
sapience1667
taste1671
curiositya1684
niceness1698
gust1706
sensibility1735
connoissance1736
connoisseurship1749
tapinophoby1773
theoria1846
shibui1960
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > discernment, discrimination > [noun]
shedc950
skilla1200
skillwisenessa1200
doomc1374
subtilitya1398
subtiltyc1405
subtletya1425
dijudication1549
choice1583
decernment1586
quiddity1602
discerning1608
discernance1612
sensea1616
sense of things1648
tact1797
appreciation1810
kokum1848
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun]
sentimentc1374
feelinga1425
feelc1450
apprehension1605
sensibleness1605
sensea1616
sensibility1634
emotional intelligence1872
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. i. 72 Tempests themselues, by seas, and houling windes..As hauing sence of beauty, do omit Their common natures, letting goe safely by The diuine Desdemona.
1687 A. Behn Emperor of Moon Ep. Ded. sig. A2v Your Lordship shall be its Judge, whose refin'd Sence, and Delicacy of Judgment, will..find Nature there, and that Diversion which was not meant for the Numbers, who comprehend nothing beyond the Show and Buffoonry.
a1704 T. Brown Declam. Praise Poverty in Wks. (1707) I. i. 139 They have no Taste of Wit, and Sense of Arts and Sciences.
1715 A. Pope Corr. 15 July (1956) I. 306 We talk much of fine sense, refin'd sense, and exalted sense.
1838 Metrop. Apr. 97 There is..a better sense of the dramatic, in this historical tragedy, than in any attempt of the kind we have seen for a long time.
1875 M. Arnold God & Bible v. 244 The sense which English people have for fact and for evidence will tell them, that..demonstration is impossible.
1878 C. Stanford Symbols Christ (new ed.) i. 4 The Bible..delights our sense of the picturesque.
1922 H. MacGrath Ragged Edge xix. 203 The barmaids had too strongly appealed to his sense of novelty.
1974 R. Adams Shardik lvi. 472 From natural awe and sense of occasion, they did not press forward.
2002 B. Hoey Her Majesty 350 She has a highly developed sense of the ridiculous.
III. That which is felt or perceived by the body or mind.† 22. An opinion, a view, or a judgement.
21.
a. Mental apprehension, recognition, or realization of a truth, fact, or state of affairs; full awareness. In quot. ?1531: comprehension of the meaning of.See also sense of things n. at Phrases 4a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > [noun] > understanding, comprehension > of something
intelligencec1429
sense1483
understanding1548
resentmenta1638
sensationa1659
conception1796
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. clxxxvijv/1 He shall..conuerte fader and sones, olde and myscreauntes to the sens of rightwysnesse, and to the seruyce of god.
?1531 R. Barnes Supplic. Kinge Henrye VIII f. lxxx Chrisostom speketh well of yov, Be holde I see men that haue no trew sence of holy scripture, yee they vnderstonde nothynge at all therof.
1595 S. Ward Diary 14 June in M. M. Knappen Two Elizabethan Puritan Diaries (1933) 108 My hearing of the sermon without that sence which I should have had.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 204 The common people vnderstand not many excellent vertues:..but of the highest vertues they haue no sense or perceiuing at all.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccxlvii. 214 The True Intent of This Fable is to Possess us with a Just Sense of the Vanity and Folly of these Craving Appetites.
a1729 S. Clarke Sermons (1731) X. xiii. 294 'Tis plain they have no true Sense of the difference of moral Good and Evil.
1758 S. Hayward Seventeen Serm. xiv. 402 To have a just sense of the worth of a soul.
1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches II. i. ii. 43 He seemed visited by a sense of the vanity of all things.
1871 J. Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. (1878) 1st Ser. 175 The same sense of the puniness of man in the centre of a cruel and frowning universe.
1937 O. Stapledon Star Maker v. 87 We were increasingly oppressed by a sense of the futility, the planlessness of the cosmos.
1981 Newsweek 2 Feb. 51/1 Reagan..has an actor's sense of the perishableness of moods.
2010 G. Ritzer Globalization x. 287 A new sense of the power of the media to shape individual subjectivity and culture.
b. A recognition or appreciation of the value of a duty, quality, or virtue, esp. as a motive or standard for one's own conduct.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > [noun] > acknowledgement as entitled or valid
recognizancea1400
recognitionc1460
sense1563
acknowledgement1570
recognizon1611
reconnoissancea1734
1563 L. Humphrey Nobles or of Nobilitye ii. sig. q.ii They would more and more, put on that sence of humanytie, and affecte of mercy.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Sensus There is no sense of courteisie in you, or no sparke of gentlenesse.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1623) i. i. 133 Do not beleeue That from the sence of all Ciuilitie, I thus would play and trifle with your Reuerence.
1650 O. Cromwell Let. conc. Rendition Castle Edinb. 4 My sense of Duty presseth me for the end aforesaid.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 171 These Fellows have no Sense of Gratitude.
1779 Mirror No. 35 I was conscious of an inclination to oblige, and a quick sense of propriety.
1801 M. Edgeworth Prussian Vase in Moral Tales III. 34 They would suffer no motives to influence them, but a sense of truth and justice.
1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest III. xiii. 295 He appealed to their sense of feudal honour.
1921 Cape Cod Dec. 14/2 Politics must essentially be founded upon a sense of respect for the law.
1974 Billboard 29 June 16/3 His sensitive voice and buttery guitar style was alive the whole evening yet he retained a sense of restraint and moderation.
2013 Daily Tel. 28 Aug. 15/2 We want young people to feel a sense of responsibility.
a. One held or formed by an individual. In early use chiefly in to abound in one's own sense. In later use also in to speak (also give) one's sense: to express one's opinion, view, or judgement. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > [noun] > a view, notion, opinion
thingOE
thoughtc1300
opinion1340
device1393
holdingc1449
opinationc1475
sense1539
apprehension1579
suppose1587
supposal1589
conception1603
notion1603
opining1611
tenet1631
respect1662
sentiment1675
perception1701
the mind > language > statement > state or declare [verb (intransitive)] > one's opinion or position
opena1382
to show one's mind1492
to speak one's mindc1500
to speak (also give) one's sense1646
position1647
to declare for1669
explain1709
to come out1836
to go on record1867
the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > personal opinion > express one's opinion [verb]
to speak one's mindc1500
to open one's budget1548
to speak (also give) one's sense1646
pronounce1801
to say (also speak) one's piece1822
1539 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Prouerbes sig. B.v For the excludynge of contencion we suffer euery man to abunde in hys owne sence.
1646 R. Waring Publike Conf. Six Presbyterian Ministers 11 For to speake my sense and judgment, the ultimate and last Authority is resolv'd into the body of the whole Church.
a1652 I. Jones Most Notable Antiq. called Stone-Heng (1655) 35 These Monuments..I have not seen, otherwise I would give my sense upon them.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2342/1 It is..Our constant Sense and Opinion..that Conscience ought not to be constrained.
1747 B. Hoadly Suspicious Husband i. i. 6 My Lord Coke, in a Case I read this very Morning, speaks my very Sense.
1763 D. Hume Hist. Eng. (new ed.) III. xxiv. 332 The entail of the Crown was drawn, according to the sense of the King, and probably in the words, dictated by him.
1892 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 3 Proc. p. lxxxviii/2 The Chairman, in putting the motion, said he felt he only spoke the sense of every member of the Council in expressing their regret.
b. One held or formed by a group or assembly, or by the majority of its members. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > opinion held by group > [noun]
voice?a1400
received opinion1440
vote1562
sense1563
minda1586
opinion1598
breath1610
vogue1626
climate1661
received idea1697
mass mind1922
idée reçue1933
mythology1949
1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1890) II. 70 Quhatsumeuir thing thai al, or moniast be ane and the samin self sense and mynd..hes..confirmit.
1630 E. Cary tr. J. D. Du Perron Reply to Answeare of King ii. viii. 214 To send by delegates, carrying the voice of that Councell the sence of all the westerne Church to the Councell of Nicea.
1692 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses II. 315 Prynne afterwards was called in again to receive the sense of the House.
1746 Orig. Lett. to Honest Sailor 93 He..was the Head of the Board, and..what he should say to him, was the Sense of the whole Board.
1793 E. Burke Observ. Conduct Minority in Two Lett. Conduct Domestick Parties (1797) 75 An House of Commons which does not speak the sense of the people.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xv. 533 He spoke, he told the King, the sense of a great body of honest gentlemen.
c. Followed by of and the thing of which an opinion is held. Also occasionally: favourable opinion or high estimate of. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > [noun]
talec1175
daintya1250
price?a1300
accounta1393
recommendation1433
conceita1438
opiniona1450
tendershipc1460
regard?1533
sense1565
mense1567
sake1590
eye1597
consideration1598
esteem1611
choicea1616
recommends1623
value1637
appreciation1650
mass1942
1565 T. Stapleton Fortresse of Faith f. 122v Let vs see what sence he had of monasticall religion.
1638 Earl of Strafford Let. 7 Aug. (1739) II. 195 Your Lordship's of the 27th of June expresseth more Sense of me than I am worthy of.
1669 J. Denham Cato Major iv. 44 Now you (my friends) my sense of death shall hear.
1743 J. Wesley Earnest Appeal (ed. 2) 48 I will now simply tell you my Sense of these Matters.
1785 T. Jefferson Let. 4 Dec. in Papers (1954) IX. 77 Congress have studiously avoided giving to the public their sense of this institution.
1837 J. S. Mill Let. 20 Nov. in Wks. (1963) XII. 359 An opportunity which I might..have used for putting upon record my sense of your great merits.
23.
a. A physical feeling or sensation; a mental state resulting from the effects of a stimulus operating on any sense organ or from the condition of a part of the body. Also as a mass noun. Chiefly with of specifying the nature of the sense.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > physical sensation > a physical sensation
feelinga1425
feelc1485
sense1547
sensation1557
impressure1607
impressa1616
impression1632
sense perception1846
1547 C. Langton Very Brefe Treat. Phisick ii. vii. sig. H.viiiv Ye hart as though it were smytten, is drawen together, and doth tremble and quake, not without great sense of payne.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xv. sig. Rr2v Fire, burne me quite till sense of burning leaue me.
a1628 J. Preston Of Faith i. 14 in Breast-plate of Faith (1630) Before you will be healed, you must haue a sence of your..sicknesse.
1669 H. Stubbe Let. in T. Birch Life R. Boyle (1744) 192 It creates in the throat such a sense, as remains after drinking pepper-posset.
1702 J. Floyer Anc. Ψυχρολουσία Revived iv. 113 The way to prepare our Body for Cold Baths..is to wash it all over in warm Water first..and so every Morning use cooler till it can bear the Sense of very Cold Water.
1798 W. Blair Ess. Venereal Dis. iv. 227 His medicine..produced a sense of heat and weight in the stomach and bowels.
1820 J. Keats Isabella in Lamia & Other Poems 66 Like a lance, Waking an Indian..With cruel pierce, and bringing him again Sense of the gnawing fire at heart and brain.
1879 ‘G. Eliot’ Theophrastus Such x. 182 An idle craving without sense of flavours.
1903 Chicago Med. Recorder Jan. 8 One complained..of a sense of burning which cold water did not allay.
1944 H. Sutton Lect. Preventive Med. iii. 297 The result is an intolerable sense of itchiness.
1976 G. Travis Chronic Illness in Children vii. 224 A constant sense of thirst is said to accompany this severe fluid restriction.
2000 Vanity Fair Jan. 137/1 A dilation of constricted blood vessels close to the body's surface, which produces a sudden sense of heat.
b. A feeling or emotional sensation of a specified kind. Cf. sense of shame n. at shame n. 1c. Also in extended use.a false sense of security: see security n. Phrases 2.
ΚΠ
1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. vi. v. 617 Vntil the time of the Laste Iudgement, the Soule lieth stil.., as doothe the body, without sense of ioie, or paine.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. v. i. v. 473 An hearbe calle Datura, which if it be eaten for 24 houres following takes away all sense of griefe.
1665 R. South Serm. preached before Court 11 Him that prosecutes his debauches with the greatest Keeness of desire, and sense of Delight.
1732 J. Mawer Layman's Faith 28 His Reason and Reflection wou'd only serve him to heighten his Sense of Misery.
1770 in Polit. Reg. (1771) Feb. 67 We..beg leave to express to your Excellency, the sense of sorrow with which we are deeply impressed, at the approaching period for your separation from us.
1833 H. Martineau Three Ages ii. 44 The nation was growing bold under a sense of injury.
1871 T. Hardy Desperate Remedies II. i. 10 He experienced no alarm about finding the path again, and with some sense of pleasure halted awhile against the rails.
1916 B. Russell Let. Sept. in Autobiogr., 1914–1944 (1968) 94 Wittgenstein's criticism gave me a sense of failure.
1920 Amer. Jrnl. Ophthalmol. Dec. 868/1 The herbage..aroused in the beholder an indescribable sense of wellbeing.
2003 Trail Nov. 38/2 It gave me a great sense of satisfaction knowing that I had visited just about every corner of Lakeland.
24.
a. An impression or consciousness of something abstract or intangible, as a fact, state of affairs, pervading tone or mood, etc. Also: a general or approximate impression or understanding of a particular matter, topic, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > premonition, presentiment > [noun] > instance of
boding1297
pricking of (also in) one's thumbsa1398
sense1549
presagition?c1550
forefeeling1551
aboding1579
bode1587
foresignification1592
presage1597
prevention1601
bodement1642
presentiment1663
forebodea1680
forebodement1755
omening1796
bodeword1832
forefeel1839
hunch1904
1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus Praise of Folie sig. Hivv Who saieth, any maner sense of this spectacle shoulde redounde vnto the deade.
1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Ld. Hastynges sig. N.viii My palfrey..Thryse shonnd..the dreaded tower. What? shoulde I thynke he had sence of after happs?
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iii. 343 What sense had I of her stolne houres of lust. View more context for this quotation
1747 T. Gray Ode Eton Coll. 6 No Sense have they of Ills to come.
1759 R. Hurd Moral & Polit. Dialogues (1760) iv. 135 Her parliaments were disposed to wave all disputes about the stretch of her prerogative, from a sense of their own and the common danger.
1849 A. Helps Friends in Council II. i. i. 10 The keenness of pursuit thus engendered [in reading]..takes away the sense of dulness in details.
1876 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 2nd Ser. vii. 290 There are few books..that do not sadden us by a sense of incompleteness.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 9/1 There came upon Ryan a vague sense of impending disaster.
1969 Sunday Tel. 16 Mar. 3/3 The working-class boy is a..motivated student. It is [well-off] students..who often lack any sense of what a university is for.
2009 C. Kellison Producing for TV & New Media (new ed.) xi. 247 What is your sense of the direction television is taking?
b. An impression or consciousness of something physical or tangible (or occasionally of an imagined entity).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > absence of perception > [noun] > vague perception
sentimentc1374
sense1596
indistinctness1783
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. x. sig. Hh7 Lightned..With continuall candlelight, which delt A doubtfull sense of things, not so well seene, as felt. View more context for this quotation
1647 C. Harvey Schola Cordis 17 And by thy light Possesse my sight With sense of an eternall day.
1798 W. Wordsworth Lines Tintern Abbey in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 207 A sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused.
1876 W. E. Henley Life & Death xxxiv, in Bk. Verses (1888) 100 And the darkening air Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night.
1887 W. James in Mind 12 209 Such expressions as the abysmal vault of heaven, the endless expanse of ocean,..give the sense of an enormous horizon.
1904 J. Galsworthy Island Pharisees (1911) xxxi. 294 He cold not see her face; he only had a sense of something breathing and alive within a yard of him.
1979 H. W. Turner From Temple to Meeting House ii. 16 Certain natural phenomena are inherently suited for the purpose of arousing a sense of a divine presence.
2001 B. Smith & Y. Yamamoto Japanese Bath 46 They bring to those sitting nearby a sense of evening's coolness after the heat of day.
c. An impression, understanding, or intuition, often of a general or approximate kind, that something is the case.
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
1655 G. Hutcheson Brief Expos. XII. Smal Prophets (Hosea vi. 1) 104 A penitent must have a deep sense, that all other courses he hath essayed in his straying from God, are but vanity.
1683 in Pennsylvania Arch. (1852) I. 83 He gave Me a kind of cold Answer.., and I had a real sence upon Me, that he is not Right to thy Interest.
1713 R. Steele in Guardian 17 Mar. 1/2 Which gives the Mother an uneasie Sense, that Mrs. Jane really is what her Parent has a mind to continue to be.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. x. 195 Seth, always timid in his behaviour towards his mother, from the sense that he had no influence over her.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. lxxxii. 84 The spirit of Puritanism, cold and keen as glacial air..with..its sense, particularly needed in this tender-hearted country, that there are times when Agag must be hewn in pieces before the Lord.
1903 H. James Ambassadors i. i. 9 He had quite the sense that she knew things he didn't.
1964 A. S. Byatt Shadow of Sun iii. 52 They all had a sense that it should be a quiet time, a time for doing nothing and taking stock.
2010 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 78/1 I was getting the sense that the data in drug studies were endlessly malleable.
25. Emotional consciousness or awareness; grateful or admiring recognition of another person's conduct or qualities; (also) an instance of this. Now rare.with sense: see Phrases 3a.
ΚΠ
1563 L. Humphrey Nobles or of Nobilitye ii. sig. p.vii They..are moued with greater compassion, and sence of others griefe.
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin v. 261 He fainted and fell downe dead vppon the sepulcher of his father, who had..litle sence of those his latest sorowes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. i. 32 O braue Iago, honest and Iust, That hast such noble sence of thy friends wrong. View more context for this quotation
1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. i. 149 The King in a calmer humour, beganne to have a sense of the Earle of Lancasters execution.
1669 G. Miege Relation of Three Embassies 393 He declared the sence his Master had of the great Expressions of kindness which he had received.
1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey V. 286 The sense I have of this, and other instances of that friendship.
1744 J. Campbell Lives Admirals IV. 261 The Sense of the King's Gratitude and Goodness so overcame his Spirits, that, sitting down on a Bench, he there breathed his last.
1821 W. Combe Third Tour Dr. Syntax xxxvii. 207 He spoke at once his grateful sense Of her warm friendship and regard.
1895 Times 28 Mar. 6/1 The Lord Chancellor..would have been glad to express his sense of the services the Fellows of the society had rendered.
1969 J. B. Beer Blake's Visionary Universe 315 Lady Macbeth is inhibited from action against him by her sense of his goodness.
26. A consciousness or recognition of an aspect of one's own character, behaviour, or worth, esp. one acting as a motive for one's conduct. Frequently followed by of and possessive pronoun. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun] > state of self-feeling > emotional perception of one's condition
sense1573
self-feeling1908
1573 T. Cooper Briefe Expos. f. 301v Feare & reuerence which is ioyned wt faith, bicause of ye sense of our vnworthines, doth moue vs to Humble & debase our selues in the sight of God.
1648 J. Burroughs Gospel-worship 84 This humility must be in the sense of our own meanness and baseness.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lix. 59 The smart brings him to a sense of his Errour.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 113 For now I pray'd with a Sense of my Condition.
1785 J. Grant Ess. Orig. Society 19 He..is naturally endued with that high sense of self-esteem which constitutes the passion of pride.
a1800 W. Cowper Retired Cat in W. Hayley Life & Posthumous Writings Cowper (1803) I. 258 Beware of too sublime a sense Of your own worth and consequence!
a1816 R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal (rev. ed.) iii. i, in Wks. (1821) II. 61 Who..has done every thing in his power to bring your nephew to a proper sense of his extravagance.
1872 J. L. Sanford Estimates Eng. Kings: Charles I 331 The dignity of bearing in Charles..was sustained by a profound sense of self-importance and superiority.
1908 R. Bagot Anthony Cuthbert vi. 51 To confess herself mistaken was altogether opposed to her sense of personal dignity.
1965 J. E. Weller Yesterday's People iv. 78 Few schemes more destructive of the mountaineer's sense of his own worth could have been devised.
1992 I. Berlin et al. in Free at Last p. x Their letters were informed by a powerful sense of entitlement.
2007 Independent 11 July 33/4 Students..enter university with an entirely inaccurate sense of their own competence.
Phrases
P1. Phrases relating to meaning, intelligibility, or coherence (see branch I.).
a. With in.† (b) in the same sense and variants: with the intention of conveying the same meaning in written or spoken language; to the same effect. Obsolete.
(a) to take (something) in a —— sense: to interpret or consider (something) in a specified way; (in early use) spec. to interpret (written or spoken language) in a specified way.
ΚΠ
a1533 J. Frith Against Rastel (?1535–6) sig. B.iii He..sercheth out wythe all diligens what worde I haue spoken that myght be taken in the worste sence.
1581 J. Merbecke Bk. of Notes 1185 And the world knew him not. The world in this place signifieth all men: for it cannot be taken in a straighter sense.
1632 ‘T. T.’ Whetstone of Reproofe 302 Which wordes..if they be taken in the sense in which diuines doe commonlie take them, include no offence at all.
1660 R. Coke Justice Vindicated ii. 22 Resistance is usually taken in an ill sence, as when the subordinate resists his superior.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 113 Yet the Island was certainly a Prison to me, and that in the worst Sense in the World; but now I learn'd to take it in another Sense.
1776 W. J. Mickle in tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad p. civ This axiom will greatly mislead us from the line of truth, if taken in a general sense.
1823 Philos. Mag. & Jrnl. 31 Mar. 195 If taken in a more extensive sense, [this observation]..may serve to throw some light on the laws of vegetation in general.
1860 C. E. Palmer in tr. Sophocles Œdipus Coloneus 49/2 Others can judge as well as I whether he takes it in a general senseas any necessary thing, or in the more particular sense of a close connection.
1957 A. Ellis Let. 21 Aug. in I. L. Reiss & A. Ellis At Dawn Sexual Revol. (2002) 71 Your point..is very well taken in a practical sense.
2012 B. Gupta Introd. Indian Philos. xi. 186 The respondent contradicts a statement by taking it in a sense other than the one the speaker intended.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > [adverb]
formally1526
in the same sense1534
to that sense1594
explicitly1605
evolvedlya1641
on (also upon, from) the face of1719
1534 N. Udall Floures for Latine Spekynge gathered oute of Terence f. 94v Plautus in Casina..speaketh in the same sense by the accusatyue.
1565 N. Sanders Supper of Our Lord v. xii. f. 283v S. Cyrillus writeth in the same sense.
1607 tr. P. Sarpi Apology sig. Q4v The Commissary spake in like sense as S. Gregory and the holy Canons.
1670 R. Manley Hist. Late Warres in Denmark ii. 71 He wrote in the same sence Montague had done before, offering withall his Masters so often proffered Mediation.
1723 P. Davall tr. Cardinal de Retz Memoirs I. ii. 269 Aubri, President in the Chamber of Accounts, had spoke in that same Sense the Day before.
1724 tr. Baron d'Ilgen Let. 1 June 1715 in Hist. Reg. 1714–16 II. 249 What he lately receiv'd from your Excellency, was not written in any other Sense, nor with any other Intention, than that your Excellency has pleas'd to remark.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. ii. iv. 57 France..is now beginning to speak also; and speaks in that same sense.
1883 L. Oliphant Altiora Peto II. 118 He had no scruple in writing to the Baroness in the above sense.
(c) in that (also this) sense: in the light of what has been previously stated; given what has been previously stated to be true or valid.
ΚΠ
1567 W. Allen Treat. Def. Priesthod 401 So long as the Churche militant trauaileth here in earth, so long hath Christ oure Maister somwhat to suffer to make his passion effectuall.., and in that sense some peece of his passsion, in euerie of ye faithfulls bodies must be supplied.
1584 E. Paget tr. J. Calvin Harmonie vpon Three Euangelists 404 If any man should fulfill the lawe, yet he can bestow nothing of God: because he only rendreth that which he was endebted. And in this sense he calleth vs vnprofitable seruaunts.
1627 W. Guild Popish Glorying in Antiq. vi. 110 The vse of the Sacrament, which continueth onelie in this present worlde, and in that sense, is temporall.
1655 T. Ady Candle in Dark 21 Some of these are lascivious Dreams, some Murtherous, some Covetous, and in that sence may be called Diabolical.
1710 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. 22 The particular Triangle I consider..does equally stand for and represent all Rectilinear Triangles whatsoever, and is in that sense Universal.
1767 T. Gray Let. 19 July in Corr. (1971) II. 968 In gems, that want colour & perfection, a foil is put under them to add to their lustre..; & in this sense when a pretty woman chuses to appear in publick with a homely one, we say she uses her as a foil.
1840 J. B. Ker Suppl. Ess. Archæol. Pop. Phrases, Terms, & Nursery Rhymes 45 A farthing, a guinea, a public note or notice, are all equally money and in that sense upon a level the one with the other.
1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein II. vi. ii. 364 In this sense no one was less poetical than Stein, who never for a moment forgets the claims of practical life.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 966 They may be spores, whose characteristic is that they do not require any fertilization, and are in that sense asexual.
1978 G. W. Lapidus Women in Soviet Soc. iii. 110 It is in this sense that consumerism is a genuinely feminist issue in Soviet society.
2013 Sky at Night Apr. 17/2 Many of these super-Earths may not get rid of their hydrogen-rich atmospheres... In that sense, most super-Earths would be more like small Neptunes.
(d) in the sense that: inasmuch as, in so far as (used to introduce a more specific or detailed explanation of a preceding remark).
ΚΠ
1754 W. Warburton Princ. Nat. & Revealed Relig. II. xi. 140 I take the supremacy of the Magistrate to be a divine work, in the sense that all civil Institutions..are the ordinance of God.
1890 J. R. Lowell Wks. VI. 62 Fielding was a naturalist, in the sense that he was an instinctive and careful observer.
1947 Jazzways 2 56/2 A ‘blues’ band, in the sense that it featured blues-based arrangements in a semi-Dixieland style.
2007 Independent 30 Oct. 14/3 He is political in the sense that he does stuff for urban welfare projects, but he might struggle to name his local senator.
b. to make sense.
(a) With written or spoken language as subject: to be coherent or intelligible. Formerly also in the same sense: †to have (also give) sense. In later use also with a person as subject: to speak in a manner that is coherent or intelligible.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > be intelligible [verb (intransitive)]
to make sense1554
connect1753
it (or that) figures1854
click1916
to add up1942
jive1943
1554 J. Gwynneth Manifeste Detection of Notable Falshed f. 27 This worde..muste nedes bee referred to somewhat, before or after, or els it can haue no sence.
1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes 867 His argumente hathe no sense nor sequele.
1648 C. Dallison Royalist's Def. iii. 38 Meaning (if their words have any sense) that by their prevailing against the King in that war, God hath judged the cause for them.
1721 A. Malcolm Treat. Musick xiv. 538 This, to make any Sense, must signify that [etc.].
1846 ‘G. Eliot’ tr. D. F. Strauss Life Jesus I. Introd. 6 He was of opinion that the literal interpretation either gave no sense at all, or else a perverted sense.
1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent 264 In the first authentic edition..the words, I believe, ran, ‘and a table of green fields’, which has no sense.
1910 J. Sargeaunt Poems J. Dryden p. xxiii This is the only reading that gives any sense.
1953 Collier's 27 Nov. 65/1 Scat didn't know if he made sense, but he gave it everything he had.
1970 Princeton Alumni Weekly 15 Dec. 45/2 When somebody says something that doesn't make sense, he doesn't just cut him off.
2000 D. Steel Wedding iii. 50 She was whispering into the phone, and she was so scared she hardly made sense.
(b) In extended use: to be intelligible or comprehensible, esp. in the context of pre-existing knowledge or expectations. Frequently in negative constructions, and with non-referential it as subject.
ΚΠ
1905 E. M. Forster Where Angels fear to Tread i. 20 ‘I don't understand,’ she said; ‘it doesn't make sense.’... ‘The meaning is quite clear,—Lilia is engaged to be married.’
1936 Punch 12 Feb. 170/2 It can't be right, it can't be. Spats and a bowler-hat, but no umbrella—it doesn't make sense.
1968 U. Molinaro tr. H. Hesse Narcissus & Goldmund vi. 78 Everything was transformed and enchanted, everything made sense.
1986 R. F. Winans Trading Secrets ii. 32 It was all starting to make sense to me.
2014 L. Lalami Moor's Acct. i. 11 This made no sense to me, yet I remained silent.
(c) To be sensible, advisable, or viable, esp. as course of action. Frequently with it as subject and followed by to. Also followed by as. See to make (good, poor, etc.) —— sense at Phrases 1h.
ΚΠ
1931 Time 15 June 24/2 He would never undertake the ‘Christian’ daily unless it made sense as a newspaper.
1937 Pop. Sci. Monthly Oct. 117/1 It makes sense to have half the length ground straight.
1969 N.Y. Mag. 10 Feb. 45/2 Levine explained patiently that it didn't make sense to buy plastic in small quantities.
1992 Daily Tel. 24 July 9/2 When my son Thomas..started taking solids, it made sense to buy a bowl which stuck to his highchair.
2006 Foreign Affairs Mar. 2 Such a policy might have made sense in Vietnam.
c. to make sense of.
(a) To comprehend or find meaning in (written or spoken language). Also occasionally to make sense out of.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > reach understanding of
conceive1340
grope1390
tellc1390
catchc1475
reacha1500
make1531
to make sense of1574
to make outa1625
apprehend1631
realize1742
finda1834
reify1854
recognize1879
to get (something) straight1920
to pick up1946
to work out1953
1574 tr. Life 70. Archbishopp Canterbury To Rdr. sig. Evv If thow beest at any time troubled, to make sense of the Englishe in some places, thinke that he was worse troubled, to make any reason off the latine in many places.
1642 S. Harmar Vox Populi sig. B2 He be carefull..that he keep his Letters even,..not linking words together like a chaine from one end of the line, to the other,..that the Reader can make no sence of it.
1666 in H. Paton Rep. Laing MSS (1914) I. 354 I feir your lorship sal not be able to maik sens out of my skriblen.
1734 J. Hunt Ess. Hist. & Revelations of Script. 24 That rendering scarce makes sense of the words.
1765 B. Heath Revisal Shakespear's Text 205 I would desire the reader to consider well this passage, and try whether he can make any sense of it.
1813 J. Hogg Queen's Wake 369 From that time forth, he never spoke another word that any person could make sense of.
1891 T. Hodgkin Theodoric the Goth xiii. 260 The passage..which describes these events is so corrupt that it is hardly possible to make sense of it.
1967 E. D. Hirsch Validity in Interpr. 238 The only way to avoid pure circularity in making sense of the text.
2012 S. Shale Moral Leadership in Med. p. vii I was taken by surprise, and could not immediately make sense of what he said.
(b) More generally: to comprehend; to find coherence or meaning in; (also occasionally) to give coherence to.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > mean [verb (transitive)] > ascribe meaning to
sense1564
to make outa1625
to make sense of1912
1912 W. Temple in B. H. Streeter Foundations v. 220 [God's] sympathy..makes sense, and nothing else makes sense, of Pain.
1939 M. Lerner Ideas are Weapons xvi. 201 There is in us somewhere a drive to make sense of our experience.
1963 Landscape Autumn 22/1 Cultural geographers have not been very successful in making sense of the United States as a dynamic encounter of culture and land.
1981 I. Wedde Shirt Factory & Other Stories 134 I couldn't make sense of the tone of her interrogation.
2014 Yorks. Post 7 Nov. (Culture & Guide) 12/4 An impressive cast..tries valiantly to make sense of a dense script.
d. there is no sense (in doing something): it is unreasonable or useless (to do something).
ΚΠ
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxiii. 482 My advise is, that there is no sence nor reason to send aide and supplies to conquerours.
1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman ii. 73 There is no sense I should leave out this goodly vertue.
1777 N. Brit. Intelligencer 23 Apr. 103/1 There is, surely, no sense in sneering at a thing which may at least be true.
1830 C. Bury Jrnl. of Heart 310 There is no sense in recording all my questions.
1878 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 710 There is no sense in saying that the chance of a totally unknown event is even.., and what ought to be said is that the chance is entirely indefinite.
1920 C. E. Mulford Johnny Nelson xii. 26 There ain't no sense in totin' it by th' glass to a crowd of blotters.
1965 I. M. D. Little & J. M. Clifford Internat. Aid ix. 206 If aid has to be given for ever then there is no sense in charging interest at all.
2007 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 122/2 There was no sense in trying to be a second-rate Japan.
e. to talk (also speak, write) sense and variants: to talk (also speak, write) what is wise, reasonable, or intelligible.
ΚΠ
1606 J. Marston Wonder of Women iii. ii. sig. E2 The Libean speakes bold sense.
1685 in Mem. Verney Family from Restoration to Revol. (1899) IV. 344 Hot-headed people that can't speak sense, hate to heare it.
1717 T. Sherlock Considerations occasioned by Postscript Ld. Bp. of Bangor 43 What think you, my Lord? Does the old Patriarch talk Sense?
1746 W. Dunkin tr. Horace in P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Epistles ii. ii. 235 I..would rather fairly pass.., Than write good Sense, and smart severely for't.
1829 W. Scott Tales of Grandfather 2nd Ser. I. 57 The King, losing patience, commanded one of these zealots either to speak sense or come down from the pulpit.
1885 S. A. Brooke Let. 8 May in Life & Lett. (1917) II. xviii. 378 I talked sense, and was grimly resolved to give the exact opposite of ——'s wish-wash.
1921 W. W. Baillie Days & Nights of Shikar ii. 27 Write sense or not at all.
1972 ‘P. Ruell’ Red Christmas xiv. 148 You talk sense. Just remember, it's guns that count.
2004 W. B. McCloskey Raiders i. vi. 78 By now everybody's too shitfaced to talk sense.
f. it stands to sense and variants: it is reasonable, sensible, or logical. Cf. it stands to reason at reason n.1 Phrases 2d. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > employ reason [verb (intransitive)] > be in accord with
it is to (good) sense?1552
it stands to sense1681
to lie near1862
1681 Dialogue between Oxf. & London (single sheet) (verso) Then let them Plot, it stands to Sense and Reason, Their Plots will be but like their Powder-Treason.
1739 W. Brownsword Laugh & Lye Down 22 I'll try; methinks it stands to sense.
1808 Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor Jan. 386 Do you think any but a d—d fool would take his eyes off his horses to stare and gape all about the country? Why it stands to sense it can't be.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede II. iii. xxiii. 165 It stands to sense..as old Mr. Poyser, as is th' oldest man i' the room, should sit at top o' the table.
1909 Brit. Jrnl. Dental Sci. 52 383 Dr. W. Ewart said that it stood to sense that mere inspection of a child could not give any idea of the state of its inside.
1968 ‘E. Peters’ Grass Widow's Tale xi. 140 It has to be somewhere here. Stands to sense.
1997 B. Jacques Long Patrol xxxv. 217 If'n it's got a place t'come out, stands to sense there must be a spot where it flows in.
g. to see sense: to acknowledge what is sensible or wise; to stop behaving unreasonably or foolishly.
ΚΠ
1907 E. Phillpotts Whirlwind ix. 294 Try with all your might to get Dan to see sense.
1930 Royal Air Force Q. Oct. 644 The casualties to the enemy can be limited—the minute he sees sense.
1959 B. Kops Hamlet of Stepney Green 101 Help him to see sense: persuade him to give up his crazy ideas.
2015 Daily Mail (Nexis) 23 Apr. Congratulations to Australia for seeing sense and dropping the ridiculous policy of not selecting their best players.
h. to make (good, poor, etc.) —— sense: to be more or less sensible, advisable, or effective in the light of considerations of a specified kind, as to make good business sense, to make little political sense, etc.
ΚΠ
1942 W. B. Taylor Financial Policies of Business Enterprise xv. 343 This was a departure from tradition, and made financial sense.
1952 Billboard 19 Jan. 80 Doesn't it make good business sense to you to earn two dollars for every dollar you spend?
1979 J. F. Hough & M. Fainsod How Soviet Union is Governed (rev. ed.) i. 24 Such feelings are quite understandable, but the move made little political sense.
1989 Backpacker Dec. 53/1 It all makes marvelous marketing sense.
1997 P. Martin Healing Mind (1998) vii. 177 They do it because it makes sound economic sense.
2010 Washington & Lee Law Rev. 69 63 Aside from the harm this would cause to officers individually, it also appears to make poor business sense.
P2. Phrases relating to the faculties of the mind, brain, or body (see branch II.).† b. to the sense: to a point of extreme or unbearable pain or sensitivity. Cf. to the quick at quick n.1 3a. Obsolete. rare.
a. In sense 17b.
(a) out of one's senses: out of one's right mind; in such a state that one cannot think or act sanely, normally, or sensibly. Frequently in to frighten (also scare, drive, etc.) out of one's senses and variants: to frighten or impel into such a state (cf. out of one's wits at wit n. 4b). [Compare Middle French, French hors du sens (1306; second half of the 12th cent. in Old French as fors del sens).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
1580 A. Munday Zelauto iii. vi. 147 He comes as one bereft of his wyttes, or as a man feared out of his fiue sences, and vttereth this tale to Signor Giorolamo Ruscelli.
1612 S. Lennard tr. P. de Mornay Mysterie Iniquitie 401 When the Cardinall..awaked, he was almost out of his sences, and all his men supposed him to be mad.
1653 T. Smith in tr. J. Daillé Apol. for Reformed Churches 67 He is either out of his senses, or a notorious liar.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. vi. v. 257 Dear Aunt, you frighten me out of my Senses . View more context for this quotation
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. v. ii. 34 He was almost out of his senses with anger that we had acquainted you with his distress.
1839 N.Y. Mirror 11 May 361/2 He took her hand in his.., and she let it go before she had time to be frightened out of her senses.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule iv. 56 Here was this Princess paying attentions to him such as must have driven a more impressionable man out of his senses.
1966 E. Amadi Concubine xii. 94 This is the worst form of rudeness I have ever experienced. Are you out of your senses?
2005 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 2 Apr. 90 Seeing this young woman scared out of her senses, paraded in and out of court like human trash, is disgraceful.
(b) to bring (a person) to his or her senses: to cause (a person) to stop behaving foolishly, ill-advisedly, or uncharacteristically; to restore (a person) to sanity. Also occasionally: to bring round (a person) who is unconscious.
ΚΠ
1608 E. Grimeston tr. J. F. Le Petit Gen. Hist. Netherlands xi. 742 The earle of Egmont..grew distracted of his wits..: so as to bring him againe to his right sences [Fr. pour faire revenir ledit Conte à soy],..he was transported into Holland.
1671 tr. F. Clouet in tr. P. Du Moulin Monk's Hood pull'd Off ii. vi. 44 These Prisons serve not only for Criminals, but also for Distracted Persons, who are whipt often to bring them to their senses.
1728 J. Gay Beggar's Opera iii. i. 41 You shall..mortify yourself into Reason, with..a little handsome Discipline to bring you to your Senses.
1769 Farmer's Son of Kent II. 174 After he had, with much difficulty, brought me to my senses, ‘What,’ said I, ‘married!’
1837 F. Palgrave Merchant & Friar ii. 74 A commission of rebellion will bring you to your senses.
1883 Missionary Herald (Boston) Oct. 382/2 A rebuke from us often brings them to their senses.
1930 O. Stapledon Last & First Men x. 209 At length an age of confusion and murder brought mankind once more to its senses.
2014 True Crime Monthly Apr. 33/3 Mary slapped her across the mouth to bring her to her senses.
(c) in one's (right) senses: in one's right mind; in such a state that one is thinking or acting sanely, normally, or sensibly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > [adjective]
in (one's right) witc1000
wittyc1000
wisec1290
well-tempered1340
reasonablec1400
safe1402
perfectc1440
well in (also of) one's witsa1450
right in one's geara1500
well-advised1532
sensed1549
unmad1570
well-advised1585
rational1598
solid1606
in one's (right) senses1613
formala1616
of (in) disposing mind or memory1628
compos mentis1631
righta1638
well-hinged1649
well-balanced1652
spacked1673
clear-headed1709
sane1721
unfantastic1794
unmaddened1797
pas si bête1840
lucid1843
unfantastical1862
clothed and in one's right mind1873
right-minded1876
ungiddy1904
clear1950
1613 J. Floyd Purgatories Triumph ouer Hell 169 Would a man in his senses discourse in this sort?
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lxviii. 67 What Man in his Right Senses, that has wherewithal to Live Free, would make himself a Slave for Superfluities!
1727 D. Defoe Conjugal Lewdness vii. 190 No Woman in her Senses would sleep in Bed with a Man who was able to do such Things as those.
1787 F. Burney Diary May (1842) III. 366 I asked him whether he was really in his senses?
1837 R. Walsh Select Speeches W. Windham & W. Huskisson 565 Ought any man in his right senses to hesitate as to the course which it is proper to adopt under such circumstances?
1865 Jrnl. Anthropol. Soc. 3 p. cclvvx What mother in her senses would take her young child to her knee, and make it lisp its first words of prayer in a Church Collect?
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover xix. 358 You're not normal, you're not in your right senses.
1982 J. Sherwood Shot in Arm x. 96 As though any policeman in his senses would pocket cash..with a virgin-faced tight-arse like Verney looking on.
2015 Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) (Nexis) 30 Apr. 14 Anyone in their right senses is anti-war.
(d) to take leave of one's senses (also occasionally sense): to stop thinking or acting sanely, normally, or sensibly; to act foolishly, ill-advisedly, or uncharacteristically.
ΚΠ
1703 Lett. from Living to Living 54 Should I once take leave of my Senses, to give a Farewell to those Profits that have made me taken for one that has had Prodigious Intellectuals.
1775 Mod. Hon. i. 22 This master of mine, has taken leave of his senses.
1854 Methodist Q. Rev. Jan. 140 As to his denying logic, if he has ever done that, I should say that he must have taken leave of his sense.
1893 Earl of Dunmore Pamirs I. xv. 187 The public..would think that the artist had taken leave of his senses.
1938 K. O'Brien Pray for Wanderer (1951) ix. 171 God! Was he taking leave of his senses?
1995 K. Ishiguro Unconsoled xxii. 314 Have you altogether taken leave of your senses?
2011 Independent 17 Aug. (Viewspaper section) 5/1 A Republican party that..has taken leave of its senses.
(e) to come to one's senses: see to come to —— 2a at come v. Phrasal verbs 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > [adverb] > in irritating manner
to the sensea1616
provocatively1661
provokingly1705
aggravatingly1747
exasperatingly1851
irritatingly1865
naggingly1895
the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > [adverb] > in annoying or vexatious manner > extremely
soreOE
to the sensea1616
to the blood1617
excruciatingly1839
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. i. 11 I haue rubd this young gnat almost to the sense, And he growes angry. View more context for this quotation
c. In sense 11.
(a) to knock (also beat, drive, etc.) (some) sense into (a person, organization, etc.) and variants: to use harsh or violent means to make (a person, organization, etc.) begin to act sensibly or do the right thing. Also (of danger, adversity, etc.): to shock or force (a person) into acting sensibly.
ΚΠ
1605 N. Breton Poste with Packet Madde Lett. II. sig. C Thou maist keepe a schoole, tis an honest trade: when a churle wil grudg at his groat, for a shillings worth of labour, in beating quicke sense into a dull wit.
1687 A. Behn Amours Philander & Silvia 413 Lyes are the Spirit that inspires 'em..and you may as soon beat Sense into their Brains, as the very appearance of Truth.
1749 A. Selden Love & Folly iii. 139 Danger is the quickest School To beat some Sense into a Fool.
1787 T. Keene Misc. Pieces 84 Let then the Touch-stone of true merit Start forth with energetic spirit, Leaving old Priscian's musty rules To drive some sense into some fools.
1816 I. Styrke Euripedes's Alcestis Burlesqued 56 This way, my man; and I for once Will knock some sense into thy sconce.
1859 D. Richmond Helena Bertram iv. 34 He seemed able to say nothing but ‘I don't knaw.’ Ernest was inclined to pummel some sense into the little stupid.
1911 Protectionist Aug. 270/2 There is nothing like hard times to drive sense into a people.
1992 Evening Standard (Nexis) 5 Mar. 9 Britain should use her presidency of the EC..to try to beat some sense into her recalcitrant European partners.
2004 G. Woodward I'll go to Bed at Noon viii. 154 All in all it's probably a good thing,..it'll knock some sense into him maybe.
(b) to have the (good) sense to (do something) and variants: to be sensible or wise enough to (do something).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > common sense > be sensible [phrase]
on one's feetOE
an old head on (also upon) young shoulders1591
to know enough to come in out of the rain1599
to have the (good) sense to (do something)1620
to have a (good, wise, etc.) head on (also upon) one's shoulders1659
to know enough to come (or go) in when it rains1797
to come (also get) down to brass tacks (or nails)1897
1620 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Phylaster ii. 16 I thinke I shall haue sence enough to answer all the waighty Apothegmes your royall bloud shal manage.
1643 J. Taylor Tom Nash 6 A papist is a thing that would live, and hath the sense to flee from danger.
a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 55 Which if they should have the sence to do..they might shake off the Turkish yoak.
1735 A. Pope Satires of Donne ii, in Wks. II. 2 As early as I knew This Town, I had the sense to hate it too.
1800 A. Paget Let. 3 Mar. in Paget Papers (1896) I. 184 My courier had the good sense to make two men with lanterns precede the carriage.
1826 C. Lamb Reminiscences Jude Judkins in New Monthly Mag. 16 540 He had slipped away to an eminent fruiterer's, about three doors distant, which I never had the sense to think of.
1860 Punch 4 Feb. 54/2 We trust the reader has the good sense to agree with us.
1921 Sat. Evening Post 2 Apr. 3/1 He had enough sense to realize the futility of railing.
1965 T. Merton Way of Chuang Tzu 29 He knew he had follies of his own, and had the good sense to accept the fact and enjoy it.
2009 Irish Times 3 Apr. 14/2 He has had the sense—mostly—to stand aside and pass the questions on to colleagues.
(c) to have (also show) some sense: to be rational; to act more or less sensibly or rationally; (frequently in imperative) ‘be sensible’.
ΚΠ
1638 A. Cowley Loves Riddle ii. sig. Cv Now he's starke mad againe upon the sudden; He had some sense even now.
1764 H. Walpole Castle of Otranto i. 36 Jaquez, tell me..art thou raving? thou wast wont to have some sense.
1811 M. Leadbeater Cottage Dialogues among Irish Peasantry xvi. 88 I thought you had some sense till now, Rose; but I can hardly believe that you refused Mrs. Highlands' nursing.
1922 Munsey's Mag. Jan. 754/2 Devil take you, imbecile! Show some sense, even if you have none.
1954 W. Golding Lord of Flies vi. 126 ‘That's right. Keep Piggy out of danger.’ ‘Have some sense. What can Piggy do with only one eye?’
2004 A. Levy Small Island xxvii. 285 Queenie, for God's sake, have some sense. You can't help everyone.
(d) to have too much sense to (do something) and variants: to be too sensible or wise to (do something).
ΚΠ
1653 S. Richardson Cause of Poor Pleaded sig. B2v They have too much sense to have much faith.
1688 F. L. Sabran Dr. Sherlock's Preservative Considered 27 Sure, Sir, you have too much Sense, not to own this to be a sensless Position.
1735 A. Pope Of Char. of Women 9 Flavia's a Wit, has too much sense to pray.
1786 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 736/2 He had too much sense to let you dive into the bottom of his heart.
1837 Amer. Ann. Educ. May 197 They will undoubtedly possess too much sense to undertake a measure of that kind.
1872 Med. Times & Gaz. 11 May 453/1 The public has.., we should hope, too much sense to regard the ‘offenders’ in one light only.
1939 J. T. Horton J. Kent vii. 264 The ex-chancellor..was a man of too much sense to waste his time in brooding over the ingratitude of republics.
1998 Time 21 Dec. 18/1 Someone who has too much sense to get involved in such goings-on.
(e) to have more sense than to (do something) and variants: to be too sensible or wise to (do something).
ΚΠ
1659 H. Thorndike Epil. Trag. Church of Eng. i. iv. 22 But hee will have more shame, if not more sense, than to say it.
1685 J. Young Medicaster Medicatus 55 Errours that an Apothecarys Boy of one years standing to the Pestel and Mortar, would have more sense, than to be guilty of.
1728 W. Betagh Voy. round World 189 This likewise he says was Mr. Davison's opinion; who I know had more sense than to say or think any such silly thing.
1770 Fatal Friendship xxvii. 197 The girl has more sense than to bestow a thought on him.
1825 Aberdeen Censor 17 Mar. 38 I wonder that the Celtic Society has not more sense than to send the like of you out shivering in a day like this.
1866 G. A. Lawrence Sans Merci I. xxi. 275 He has more sense than to be here.
1938 Pop. Aviation Nov. 67/2 I give your very estimable Pan American Airways credit for more sense than to start a scheduled service with only one plane.
2007 A. Enright Gathering (2008) xvi. 108 When the horse comes in second Ada has more sense than to say, ‘What does that mean?’
(f) more money than sense: the inclination and means to spend profligately or unwisely.
ΚΠ
1753 H. Stebbing Instr. Parish Minister II. 79 I would advise these Men of more Money than Sense, before they part with their Money, to consider what they part with it for.
1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal II. 51 Those who have more money than sense, and think it easier to buy, than earn honour by merit.
1790 G. Picard Gram. Dict. 68 If she had no more money than sense.
1838 F. Coghlan Iron Road Bk. 103 Some travellers I have met with, who appeared to have more money than sense.
1876 Austral. Jrnl. Mar. 405/1 Placards posted in and around Melbourne by someone evidently possessing more money than sense.
1941 L. A. G. Strong J. McCormack v. 81 That host of women with more money than sense, and more susceptibility than either, who besiege artists of every kind.
2005 R. Bean Harvest 109 Mr Lewis will advise you correctly to wait for someone from town with more money than sense for a sale of the house.
(g) to talk (some) sense into (a person) and variants: to persuade (a person, organization, etc.) to act sensibly or do the right thing.
ΚΠ
1859 Corydon (Indiana) Weekly Democrat 22 Nov. 6/7 Except for their human figures.., it might be thought that ninety-one Democrats..were attempting to talk sense into one hundred and twelve parrots, who had learned only this one cry: ‘Vote, vote!’
1876 M. A. Fleming Kate Danton ix. 165 I have been trying to talk a little sense into her foolish head these two hours.
1927 Amer. Legion Monthly Oct. 20/2 I tried to talk some sense into his head.
1989 B. Roche Handful of Stars in Wexford Trilogy (1992) 53 Did yeh hear Stapler? He's goin' to talk a bit of sense into Jimmy Brady.
2008 Weekly Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 7 May 14 Is there somebody out there who can talk sense into this government and save us from this massive social upheaval?
(h) In various humorous phrases (with negative constructions) expressing how little common sense a person has.
ΚΠ
1921 L. M. Montgomery Rilla of Ingleside iii. 35 She hasn't got the sense she was born with where he is concerned.
1926 Publ. Texas Folk-lore Soc. 5 80 He hasn't got sense enough to get in out of the rain.
1957 A. Perl Tevya & his Daughter ii. 16 A father of seven, he hasn't got the sense of a boiled potato.
1983 Newslet. Amer. Dial. Soc. Sept. 7/2 South of us they don't have enough sense to ‘pour piss or water out of a boat.’
2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xvii. 241 She..didn't have the sense God gave a duck.
P3. Phrases relating to what is felt or perceived (see branch III.).† a. with sense: with emotion or sensitivity; feelingly. Often with modifying adjective, as due, great, some, etc. Obsolete.† b. in my (also his, their, etc.) sense: in my (his, their, etc.) opinion; according to my (his, their, etc.) judgement. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > intense emotion > [adverb]
deepa1000
inwardlya1000
inlyOE
mortallyc1390
deeplya1400
keena1400
keenlya1400
from the bottom of one's hearta1413
from (also fro) one's heart1477
profoundly1489
from the spleen?a1505
sensibly1577
with sense1578
smartlyc1580
soakingly1593
dearly1604
intimately1637
viscerally1637
exquisitely1678
sensitively1793
exaltedly1855
intensely1860
1578 W. Gace tr. M. Luther Special & Chosen Serm. 32 Doest thou dout, that if mans hart did with due sense feele such fauour of God in Christ, to wit that he doth so much for our sakes, it would not for ioy burst into most small peeces?
1628 J. Reynolds tr. Apol. Reformed Churches of France 38 The Rochellers..reiterate their complaints to the King, with such sence and passion, that hee being touched therewith, giues them againe good words.
a1680 Lady Fanshawe in Lady Halkett & Lady Fanshawe Mem. (1979) 188 Then I did my duty to the Qween, who with great sence condoled my losse.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 438 He knew, he had led a bad life; (of which he spoke with some sense).
1750 Biographia Britannica III. 1662/1 The Earl of Essex..defended himself with great sense and spirit against this accusation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > personal opinion > [adverb]
in my (also his, their, etc.) sense1591
in a person's regard1598
according to one's lights (also light)1645
in a person's book1934
1591 H. Savile in tr. Tacitus Ende of Nero: Fower Bks. Hist. iv. 177 Tacitus in noting both places and times, is in my sense, too negligent.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. ii. 296 I am not sorry neither, I'de haue thee liue, For in my sense tis happinesse to die. View more context for this quotation
a1628 J. Preston New Covenant (1629) i. 10 But because, in his sence, the object is too narrow, there is somewhat he would have more.
1726 E. Bird Fate & Destiny ii. 31 Neither can I be reconciled to your Opinion; for, in my sense, it detracts from the Merits of Christ.
1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 24 Merit, that in the sense of all nations, gives the best Title to True Praise.
1832 C. C. F. Greville Mem. 24 Feb. (1938) II. 264 The petition turned out to be one for a moderate Reform, more in their sense than in the Duke's own.
c. to take the sense of: to ascertain the general feeling or opinion of a formal body such as a court, committee, legislative assembly, etc. Now chiefly Indian English.
ΚΠ
a1675 B. Whitelocke Memorials Eng. Affairs (1682) anno 1647 263/2 A Petition..reproaching the Houses for passing the late Ordinance..without first taking the sence of that Court about it.
1738 Gentleman's Mag. Aug. 387/2 It is my Duty, if the Motion is not retracted, to take the Sense of the House upon it.
1778 J. Warner in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) III. 343 Pray let us take the sense of the University;—not that they are the judges whom I most admire.
1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington ii. 35 He ran down to the country to take the sense of his constituents.
1864 Deb. Constit. Convent. Maryland III. 1744/1 Any submission of the question to a vote, which does not take their sense of it, does not take the sense of the people of the State.
1903 Jrnls. House of Representatives N.Z. 355 The Chairman took the sense of the Committee, and left the Chair at 5.30 p.m.
1958 Internat. Affairs 34 467 The sultan, the authority figure (or his chief minister), took the sense of the meeting and acted upon it.
1993 Times of India 12 May 1/2 The speaker..took the sense of the house.
2013 Assam (India) Tribune (Nexis) 18 Dec. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien..assured that he would first take the sense of the House before taking a decision in this regard.
P4. Phrases in the form sense of ——.
a. † sense of things n. Obsolete perception or judgement of what is right; awareness of what is advisable or acceptable for one to do.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > discernment, discrimination > [noun]
shedc950
skilla1200
skillwisenessa1200
doomc1374
subtilitya1398
subtiltyc1405
subtletya1425
dijudication1549
choice1583
decernment1586
quiddity1602
discerning1608
discernance1612
sensea1616
sense of things1648
tact1797
appreciation1810
kokum1848
1648 J. Goodwin tr. M. Bucer in Sion-Colledg Visited 23 That same right and divinely-impressed sense of things within us, whereby we are continually called upon for holy and honest courses, and called back from those that are dishonest.
1659 J. Gauden Ἱερα Δακρυα iv. xx. 566 Among men of any sober reason or morall sense of things.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 189 He went into the humours of that high sort of people beyond what became him, perhaps beyond his own sense of things.
1783 J. Whitaker Course Serm. Death iv. 65 They congratulate each other at every turn, That they were blessed with a just sense of things.
b.
sense of self n. a perception or awareness of one's identity or worth; (in earliest use) an awareness of one's person or presence.In quot. a1670 as a mass noun.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > subjectivity, relation to self > [noun] > consciousness of self
sense of selfa1670
subjectivity1821
a1670 V. Powell in Life & Death Mr. Vavasor Powell (1671) 101 Shall Tooth ach then or pain from one small Bone Make me have sence of Self more then that one.
1795 R. Southey Joan of Arc I. 531 All sense of self annihilate, I seem'd Diffused into the scene.
1895 Science 13 Dec. 818/1 Organic disturbances are therefore among the most common causes of perturbances of the sense of self.
1946 A. Edel Theory & Pract. Philos. xv. 197 Memory is intimately involved in the sense of self.
1969 C. Hill & M. Kilson Apropos of Afr. p. xiii Such mobility necessarily rendered the Negro's sense of self, of racial or cultural identity, ambivalent.
1985 C. Cowan & M. Kinder Smart Women, Foolish Choices ix. 126 Her parents slowly taught Jessica to distrust and undervalue her own sense of self.
2009 Esquire Mar. 186/1 It's very hard to sell make-up to men; wearing slap threatens our most basic sense of self.
c.
sense of reality n. an ability to judge or assess what is real, appropriate, or possible, esp. as opposed to what is only imagined or desired; (also) an impression or awareness of what is real or true; (also occasionally) the quality of being realistic or authentic.
ΚΠ
1736 E. Smith Cure of Deism II. xviii. 261 It is Madness to doubt their own Existence or the Truth of what they feel within themselves; if any thing has a Title to the feeling Sense of Reality it must be that.
1798 N. Strong Serm. on Var. Subj. I. xi. 187 A sight of moral glory, is the high and all-conquering evidence, which gives to the mind a sense of reality, and raises it above all doubting.
1807 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1962) II. 3026 The necessary tendency of true Love to generate a feeling of Duty by increasing the sense of reality.
1824 Museum 4 524 We confess to have been both greatly entertained and informed by such pleasing pages; which unite very happily the sense of reality with the incident and extraordinary vicissitude of a novel.
1907 H. Adams Educ. Henry Adams v. 62 The towns were dirty enough,—unimproved, unrestored, untouristed,—to retain the sense of reality.
1940 H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood ii. i. 144 The female of the species..by the age of fifteen has a clearer sense of reality in these things than most men have to the doddering end of their days.
1984 C. Bigsby in A. Miller Archbishop's Ceiling 65 The politicians and their agents had seemingly conspired to corrupt not only the political process but also our sense of reality.
2006 Independent 22 Mar. (Property section) 27/2 Some crackpot scheme dreamed up by those at the top who have lost all sense of reality.
d.
sense of proportion n. the ability to judge the relative importance or seriousness of things; often in negative constructions or contexts.
ΚΠ
1810 Monthly Rev. Nov. A due sense of proportion is observed: the details expand as the events become more important.
1881 H. M. Hyndman England for all viii. 181 We have.., what with fear of invasion,..lost all sense of proportion in considering the external relation of such a country as ours.
1910 Young Lutheran's Compan. 29 Feb. 1/2 Few people are more irritating than those who have no sense of proportion, who make a mountain out of a molehill.
1971 Amer. Art Jrnl. 3 90 Luckily, many art historians do not lose their sense of proportion and the ability to differentiate between the great and the insignificant.
2001 S. Brett Death on Downs xxv. 173 Her thoughts were running too fast; she needed someone to bounce them off,..someone to help her regain a sense of proportion.
e.
sense of direction n. (a) an intuitive ability to determine in which direction one should move or travel in order to reach a particular destination; (also) an accurate impression of the direction in which one should move or travel; (b) a clear idea of one's goals or ambitions, or the means of achieving them.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun] > state of awareness > of particular things
consciencec1384
sense1555
self-perception1666
sense of direction1836
aliveness1870
self-awareness1876
autoscopy1903
1836 London Med. Gaz. 28 May 340/1 The difficulty is, to conceive..what the sense of direction is which [the animal]..uses.
1883 Pop. Sci. Monthly Dec. 208 Suppose a flock of birds have started on one of their migratory excursions, guided mainly by this sense of direction.
1912 R. Connor Corporal Cameron iii. i. 316 For a moment or two he lost all sense of direction, all thought of advance.
1963 J. H. Miller Disappearance of God ii. 25 He can find nothing within himself or without which gives him a goal or a sense of direction.
1985 I. Murdoch Good Apprentice ii. 282 Harry, who prided himself on his sense of direction, was reduced to driving at random looking for signposts.
2005 Independent 1 Nov. 38/5 I dated several guys who were thirtysomething, living at home and floating along with no sense of direction.
f.
sense of place n. (a) a strong or clear impression of a place, esp. in a piece of writing; the creation of this; (b) a clear character or identity belonging to or associated with a particular place.
ΚΠ
1900 Manch. Guardian 19 June 11/6 He has something of the fine moderation that we associate with Matthew Arnold... His sense of place is genuine and admirable.
1939 M. Lascelles Jane Austen & her Art 178 Sense of place is important in Jane Austen's novels.
1965 Washington Post 17 Oct. g9/6 Neighborhoods lack a sense of place because they lack a clear focal point, a heart, a center.
1998 J. Tuska in Stories of Far North 118 He is at his best in providing a vivid sense of place in his stories.
2005 Victorian Mar. 3/1 Those who simply value the old Victorian building down the road because it gives a sense of place to somewhere that would otherwise be nowheresville.
g.
sense of purpose n. a clear idea of one's goals or ambitions, or the means of achieving them; a sense of resolve or determination.
ΚΠ
1906 Friends' Intelligencer 20 Oct. 82/2 This sense of purpose is evident in a great deal of what is said in the reports to-night.
1949 New Era Home & School June 126/2 The individual or the society lacking a sense of purpose is already half-dead and its creative capacities must atrophy also.
1962 S. Wynter Hills of Hebron xv. 190 The minister's wife was caught up in her husband's new enthusiasm and sense of purpose.
1986 L. Garfield December Rose i. 7 She no longer hesitated, but walked rapidly and with a definite sense of purpose.
2003 Daily Tel. 28 July 13/3 Public resistance only heightens their sense of purpose.
Compounds
C1. Objective (chiefly in senses 12b, 14b, 15b).
a. With agent nouns, as sense-pleaser, sense-delighter, sense-deceiver, etc.
ΚΠ
1600 W. Cornwallis Ess. I. xiv. sig. I5 When these sence-pleasers haue come from any of their sports.
1614 G. Chapman in C. Brooke Ghost Richard III sig. A2 Your flippant sence-delighter, smooth, and fine, Fyr'd with his Bush Muse, and his sharpe Hedge Wine.
1878 L. Wolfssohn tr. F. Dahn Struggle for Rome I. ix. 218 Oh, wicked Eros, sense-confuser, man-shamer!
1899 Tri-state Med. Jrnl. & Practitioner Feb. 60 His laboratory was a veritable sense-deceiver. He used force in the most uncanny manner.
1913 N. C. Fowler Knocker's Club xxiii. 133 That he might not inhale the deadly gas, he grabbed him by the throat and shook the sense-destroyer from his mouth.
1963 Art Educ. 16 ii. 14 The human eye is a complex and miraculous sense receiver.
2013 K. Hunter Raising your Vibration vi. 112 Nature is a powerful sense awakener with immense healing properties.
b. With present participles, as sense-bereaving, sense-confusing, sense-ravishing, etc.
ΚΠ
1594 L. Lewkenor tr. O. de la Marche Resolued Gentleman f. 17 v I was led to the most sense-pleasing and delightfull place, that I coulde possibly haue imagined.
1597 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. f. 18 Those sence-bereauing stalkes That grow in shadie Proserpines darke walkes.
1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. sig. C4v Amaz'd with sence-confounding wretchednesse.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 266 The ayre is a compound of sense-ravishing odours.
1658 H. Crompton Pierides 72 Fall into the sphere Of sullen Ale, and sense-afflicting Beer.
1681 T. D'Urfey Progr. Honesty xvii. 22 Luscious Fruit and Flowers of Sense-delighting smell.
1753 Lover's Man. v. 168 May ev'ry gen'rous soul With caution taste the sense-deceiving bowl.
1785 Mem. & Adventures Flea II. viii. 33 Pity it is, a wise man should ever drown his understanding in the red-sea of port, or that fools should receive additional folly from its intoxicating sense-destroying qualities.
1810 C. Lucas Joseph xviii. 193 Here supple oils, and wines medicinal, And aromatics, sense-reviving, are In fit recess station'd.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. i. viii. 85 One sense-confusing tumult.
1893 J. A. Symonds Life Michelangelo II. xi. 65 A sense-deafening solo on a trombone.
1911 Muscatine (Iowa) Jrnl. 9 Dec. (Annual ed.) The game of ‘telephone’ is a very sense-training game—cultivating discrimination through the sense of hearing.
1956 J. Masters Bugles & Tiger i. 19 There was always the sense-sharpening chance of a sudden storm of bullets.
1998 N. E. Tawa in M. Saffle Music & Culture in Amer. 142 Admirers of John Ruskin's writings gradually overcame their opposition to sonorous and sense-exciting tones.
C2. Instrumental (in senses 12b, 14b, 15b), with past participles, as sense-besotted, sense-bound, sense-given, etc.
ΚΠ
1610 T. Collins Penitent Publican To Rdr. sig. A4 Shewe my selfe a sence-besotted man.
1620 F. Quarles Feast for Wormes sig. D3v His sence-bound heart, ne answeres to the voyce Of gentle warning.
1621 G. Sandys tr. Ovid First Five Bks. Metamorphosis iii. 85 With that, in-rush the sense-distracted Crew.
1647 C. Harvey Schola Cordis iv. 7 Poore, silly, simple, sense-besotted soule.
1853 C. Kingsley Hypatia I. viii. 180 The coarse and sense-bound tribe who can appreciate nothing but what is palpable to sense and sight!
1866 W. R. Alger tr. Poetry of Orient (new ed.) 264 His penal chest, the hottest berth that sense-filled soul can feel, Becomes at once a most delicious bed of breathing roses.
1871 A. C. Fraser Life & Lett. G. Berkeley x. 369 We may even, with Berkeley, call these sense-given phenomena ‘sensations’.
1917 A. MacLeish Lett. (1983) 34 Of restless whispering winds that press along Dark casements of the sense-enshuttered brain.
1933 Mind 42 292 A great variety of sense-given shapes—squares, parallelograms, trapezia, etc.—would then..all be either portions or distortions of the surface of this cube.
2006 F. Wilczek Fantastic Realities 38 There is no necessity for the introduction of the word ‘force’ nor of the sense-suggested ideas on which it was originally based.
C3. † sense-box n. humorous Obsolete the head.† sense-carrier n. Obsolete a person who makes known the opinion or wishes of another person or group of people.† sense verse n. Obsolete a verse composed in Latin or Greek as a composition exercise (cf. sense 6b).
sense aerial n. an aerial that determines from which of two possible opposite directions a radio signal originates; = sense finder n.
ΚΠ
1933 Aeroplane 26 Apr. 734/2 Two other valves are used for the ‘sense’ aerial in the middle.
1970 S. E. T. Taylor & H. A. Parmar Ground Stud. for Pilots vii. 245 By adjusting the phasing of the loop and sense aerials, the cardioid and its image are produced in rapid alterations.
2007 P. Croucher JAR Professional Pilot Stud. (new ed.) iv. 15/2 A single vertical aerial called a sense antenna helps here—the signals are combined algebraically and the magnitude and polarity of the sense aerial arranged to be identical to the loop.
sense-appearance n. Philosophy that which is perceived by or appears to the senses (sense 12a); also as a count noun.
ΚΠ
1872 L. P. Hickok Creator & Creation ii. 162 We rightly term all sense-appearance phenomenon.
1947 Mind 56 300 A chief begetter of the sense-datum theory was the problem set by illusory sense-appearances.
1990 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 51 603 All explanation of empirical science can..never be more than the transformation of sense-appearance into the ideal form of laws.
sense apprehension n. perception or apprehension by the senses (sense 12a); an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1873 Princeton Rev. July 444 A sense-want anticipates sense-apprehension.
a1902 R. Adamson Devel. Mod. Philos. (1903) II. ii. i. 229 Leibniz..maintains that our sense-apprehension of the colour green is a confused sense-apprehension of the two colours blue and yellow.
2009 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 15 552 Through sense apprehension or aesthesis, we encounter and infer the intentions of others.
sense-assimilation n. now rare the assimilation of two or more meanings or senses (sense 4a); an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1892 G. Middleton Ess. Analogy in Syntax 41 It is quite conceivable that even with these original feminine forms they could take a masculine adjective in the predicate from sense-assimilation.
1935 M. E. Houtzager Unconscious Sound- & Sense-Assimilations i. 26 Place-names..change according to sound-laws, but also..through unconscious sound- and sense-assimilations.
sense awareness n. perception or awareness that is sensory (rather than intellectual or conceptual); an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1897 Psychol. Rev. 4 438 The sense-awareness of a struggle of adjustment in which the actual self of the moment, self-divided, is seeking expression in a complete action.
1922 A. N. Whitehead Princ. Relativity ii. 20 Divest consciousness of its ideality, such as its logical, emotional, aesthetic and moral apprehensions, and what is left is sense-awareness.
2004 Grey Room Winter 88 The socialization of art comprised efforts to make art socially effective, to heighten communal consciousness and sense awareness, [etc.].
ΚΠ
1796 ‘J. Quicksilver’ Blue Shop 30 If he took but a simple peep into his sense-box, he would not omit taking due notice of it.
1808 E. S. Barrett Miss-led General xi.132 Spun from my own sense-box.
1871 Lakeside Monthly Oct. 384/2 By rolling his tongue into his cheek, and his eyes meditatively backward into his sense box.., he can tell you the time of day.
ΚΠ
1827 W. P. Scargill Blue-stocking Hall I. ii. 155 This old bookworm is, I suppose, my aunt's domestic sense-carrier, and will disapprove of every thing but black letter lore in the mornings, and snuffling canticles for our evening diversion.
1902 All Ireland Rev. 25 Jan. 409/3 The then great and commanding Times newspaper which..was the sense carrier of the ruling classes of Great Britain.
1916 D. S. Alexander Hist. & Procedure House Representatives x. 199 Pitted..against the veteran sense-carrier of his party, it put to proof the real stuff in him.
sense-change n. †(a) a change in the stimuli perceived by the senses (sense 12a) (obsolete); (b) change in the sense or meaning of a word; an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1902 G. Spiller Mind of Man ii. 53 Every appreciable sense-change is a change in sense-quality.
1921 G. Stern Swift, Swiftly, & their Synonyms 3 An understanding of the process of sense-change itself, and of its psychological causes.
1951 W. Empson Struct. Complex Words 26 The cause of a sense-change need have nothing to do with the use made of it after it has been pushed through.
2008 D. V. L. Sidtis in B. Stemmer & H. A. Whitaker Handbk. Neurosci. of Lang. xix. 201/1 Associations and prejudice contribute to pejorative sense-change.
sense cell n. a nerve cell capable of responding to stimuli.
ΚΠ
1871 A. S. Packard Embryol. Stud. Diplax in Mem. Peabody Acad. Sci. 1 21 Evidently they are, in Limulus, modified dermal sense-cells.
1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World iii. 19 The sense-cells in the retina are the units of vision.
2007 Sci. Amer. Mind Feb. 24/1 The olfactory nerve connects sense cells in our nose to the olfactory bulb inside our skull.
sense-consciousness n. sensory awareness; consciousness through the senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1854 Assoc. Med. Jrnl. 2 587/2 There is developed a sense-consciousness not limited to any particular organ, but which refers itself more or less to the whole frame—common sensation.
1874 H. R. Reynolds John the Baptist iii. §3. 201 The prophet's ordinary sense-consciousness was suspended.
2009 Philos. East & West 69 411 They correspond to the dynamic co-determination of sense-consciousness and object characteristic of each cognitive event.
sense content n. (a) Philosophy that which is represented or perceived by the senses (sense 12a); also as a count noun; (b) the sense or meaning contained in an idea or piece of writing; also as a count noun.
ΚΠ
1872 L. P. Hickok Creator & Creation i. iii. 110 With no sense-content, and no concluding in logical judgments from empirical data, the pure reason-knowing is solely from itself.
1896 L. T. Hobhouse Theory of Knowl. ii. 42 It is quite enough for our purpose that some sense-contents should be complex.
1937 Sewanee Rev. 45 441 [The poet] determines the sense content of his secondary line.
1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use v. 111 The action of the poem..is not something agglomerated out of the successive sense-contents of each line.
1997 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 55 321/2 The critic is trying to communicate a sense-content.
2000 Law & Philos. 19 181 A sense content may be interpreted as law..only if a norm is presupposed as basic.
sense development n. (a) development of the senses (sense 12a); (b) development of meaning or sense (sense 4a); an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1866 C. W. R. Cooke Moral Gulph betwixt Man & Brute iii. 20 Causing men and women to educate their senses, and..selecting for intermarriage such only as came up to a certain standard as regarded sense development.
1882 J. A. H. Murray Let. in K. M. E. Murray Caught in Web of Words (1977) x. 190 Nobody exc[ept] my predecessors in specimens of the Dicty has yet tried to trace out historically the sense-development of English words.
1930 E. L. Young Philos. Reality vi. 135 A far clearer understanding both of our own sense-experience, and of the probable course of man's sense-development.
1960 C. S. Lewis Stud. in Words 29 The sense-development of the word proper..is a striking instance.
1985 Growth & Devel. iii. 65 Adults retain basic responses that reflect a baby's stage of sense development.
2012 J. Schultz 20th Cent. Borrowings from French to Eng. iii. i. 216 Some borrowings in this group show a sense development after their adoption into English.
sense element n. (a) Philosophy the sensory aspect or content of an experience or perception; also as a count noun; (b) Linguistics one of two or more connotative elements which contribute to the sense or meaning of a word, compound, or short phrase.
ΚΠ
1868 N. Porter Human Intellect vii. 196 No illustration is needed to prove that the sense-element, the sensation, in these three percepts is naturally..regarded as an effect.
1889 J. Venn Princ. Empirical Logic vi. 150 The adhesive power between the sense-element and the notion is particularly strong in the case of..smell.
1921 G. Stern Swift, Swiftly, & their Synonyms 76 The development may be described as the addition and gradual strengthening of the sense-element ‘closely, securely,’ accompanied by a gradual weakening..of the sense-element ‘firmly, immovably.’
1998 B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk in R. Schulze Making Meaningful Choice in Eng. 131 The salient sense elementof the verb weather is not that of change, but its direct contrast—resistance.
2011 Philos. Stud. 152 375 The character of an indexical representation (as opposed to the content or sense element).
sense-experience n. Philosophy experience consisting in or resulting from sense perception; an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1861 Calcutta Rev. Mar. 99 A ploughman steps in, and demands:—‘Prove that the properties made known by my sense-experience, have no underlying support.’
1923 T. P. Nunn Education xiii. 171 All that constitutes..the quantitative as distinguished from the qualitative aspects of sense-experience.
1965 R. J. Swartz Perceiving, Seeing, & Knowing p. xvi Having a sense experience entails knowing its content.
2011 Philos. Stud. 156 150 I count these primes ‘in my head.’ No fingers, no sense-experience of fingers.
sense-feeling n. Psychology the feeling produced by one or more senses (sense 12a). [After German Sinnengefühl (K. H. Scheidler 1853, in J. S. Ersch & J. G. Gruber Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste: Erste Section lvi. 27/2).]
ΚΠ
1862 J. D. Morell Introd. Mental Philos. 420 Sense-feeling, the feelings accompanying the general sense of bodily existence; as, e.g., those of health, or weakness, of general well-being, or general depression, hunger, thirst, satiety, &c.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xx. 268 The education of our space-perception consists largely of two processes—reducing the various sense-feelings to a common measure, and adding them together into the single all-including space of the real world.
2012 J. L. Harmon tr. R. Diodato Aesthetics of Virtual ii. 15 The sense-feeling, so to speak, of presence in a virtual environment is all the more interesting the more it is able to compete with the same ‘feel’ in non-virtual environments.
sense field n. Philosophy an aggregate of all that is sensed at a given time, esp. by a particular sense.
ΚΠ
1925 C. D. Broad Mind & its Place iv. 195 A sensum is not something that exists in isolation; it is a differentiated part of a bigger and more enduring whole, viz., of a sense-field.
1970 C. O. Evans Subj. of Consciousness ii.52 Visual consciousness is a rather special case, and it is not as clear in the case of other forms of perceptual consciousness that we cannot exhaustively describe what enters the sense field in question.
2004 Philosophy 79 521 ‘Sense fields’ recede from view gradually, and their successor fields replace them gradually, old formations linger, overshadowing the new.
sense finder n. now rare an aerial that determines from which of two possible opposite directions a radio signal originates; = sense aerial n.
ΚΠ
1922 Trans. Liverpool Engin. Soc. 43 152 In practice the zero of the sense-finder is satisfactory for its purpose if it is comparatively ill defined.
1953 C. H. Cotter Elem. of Navigation xlvii. 485 The principle of the sense finder is as follows. Depending on whether the transmitting station lies in a certain direction or the opposite direction, the e.m.f. in the loop aerial will be altered in phase by 180°.
sense-finding n. and adj. now rare the action of determining from which of two possible opposite a radio signal originates; also called direction-finding and radio direction finding.
ΚΠ
1921 Radio Rev. Apr. 201 The action of ‘sense’ finding in this apparatus is illustrated in the simplified diagram of connections shown in Fig. 5.
1937 D. C. T. Bennett Compl. Air Navigator iv. 134 A sense-finding arrangement is usually incorporated in Fixed Loop Direction Finders.
1974 Jrnl. Navigation 27 77 Sense-finding, of course, is automatic.
sense-group n. Linguistics a group or sequence of words conveying a particular meaning or idea; a group of words with similar or related senses.
ΚΠ
1885 F. B. Gummere Handbk. Poetics iii. 150 Schipper notes that in lyric verse, and verse of four accents, or less, the sense-group and verse-group generally (not always) coincide.
1928 C. Bergener Contrib. Study Conversion of Adjectives into Nouns 1 I have..made an attempt.., after arranging the material in sense-groups, to ascertain the productivity of this mode of word-formation during the different periods of the language.
2002 Canad. Slavonic Papers 44 333 The tendency of French speakers to stress the end of a sense-group, rather than the end of a word.
sense-history n. (a) the history of the development of the sense or meaning of a word; (b) Philosophy the aggregate of sense experiences or sense fields experienced by an individual.
ΚΠ
1891 Sc. Rev. Oct. 472 The greater part of the words..have, in many instances, presented considerable difficulty in respect to their sense-history.
1923 C. D. Broad Sci. Thought x. 362 Let us call the whole series of sensible fields which an observer O senses in the course of his life, O's sense-history.
1933 O.E.D. Suppl. Pref. p. v The aim of this Dictionary is to present..the words..with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology.
1954 A. J. Ayer Philos. Ess. iv. 95 The occurrence, within a given sense-history, of a series of sense-fields.
1984 French Rev. 58 221 By the advanced level, students are certainly ready for the next step, which is consulting the sense history of words they look up in the dictionary.
1990 Human Stud. 13 201 A sense-history of embedded or retentionally held senses (Sinne), that..passively motivates current acts.
sense-idea n. Philosophy (now chiefly historical) anything directly perceived or represented by the senses.
ΚΠ
1862 Macmillan's Mag. July 199/1 Berkeley sweeps away..the supposed unthinking or archetypal world behind, and finds the material reality in our very sense-ideas themselves.
1871 A. C. Fraser Life & Lett. G. Berkeley iii. 75 Sense-ideas are with Berkeley real and presentative; not representative images.
2000 Philosophy 75 349 The sensation of the rose scent comes with the sense-idea.
sense-impression n. an impression resulting from the functioning of one or more senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. iv. §22. 69 The illusiveness of sense-impressions.
1923 W. H. S. Jones How we Learn 3 The mind works by giving a meaning to these sense-impressions, by interpreting them.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 June 14/1 The Impressionist view that vitality of image depends on the beholder fusing discrete sense-impressions in his or her own mind.
sense impulse n. (a) Philosophy the impulse or desire for sensory pleasure (now historical); (b) a nerve impulse transmitted from a sense cell to the brain.
ΚΠ
1856 J. H. Seelye tr. A. Schwegler Hist. Philos. in Epitome xvii. 234 The mind as theoretical and cognitive is..ruled by the objective and sensible world.., yet as practical does it go wholly beyond the given (the sense impulse [Ger. den sinnlichen Trieb]), and is determined only through the categorical imperative.
1896 L. T. Hobhouse Theory of Knowl. ii. 56 A felt total impression resulting from the forty separate sense-impulses.
1959 H. C. Sandbeck Nature & Destiny ii. ii. 103 Each sensory nerve transmits only sense-impulses of a special kind.
2006 R. A. Makkreel in K. Haakonssen Cambr. Hist. 18th Cent. Philos. I. xviii. 551 To become truly civilised, we must be able to balance the sense impulse, which desires variety of content, with the form impulse of reason, which desire unity.
sense knowledge n. Philosophy knowledge derived from the senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1845 G. H. Lewes Biogr. Hist. Philos. I. 111 The distinction between sense-knowledge and reflective knowledge.
1929 P. J. Glenn Hist. Philos. ii. iii. i. 277 Some [17th century philosophers]..admit an essential distinction between sense-knowledge (sensation) and intellectual knowledge (intellection).
2006 Rev. Metaphysics 60 314 Siger suggests that those who question the evidence of sense knowledge do not recognize evidence when they see it.
sense life n. Psychology life as it is experienced through the senses (sense 12a); an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1867 Baptist Q. 1 396 They are sown bodies for the sense-life, they are raised bodies for the spirit-life.
1894 A. C. Fraser in J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding (new ed.) II. iv. xi. 332 (note) It is not metaphysically impossible that there may be a dream, continuous and orderly, like the actual sense-life of a man.
1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media i. i. 19 Money has reorganized the sense life of peoples just because it is an extension of our sense lives.
2010 D. Howes Sensual Relations 157 It is important to guard against projecting Western stereotypes of the role of the senses in nonliterate societies onto the interpretation of the sense lives of other cultures.
sense link n. a link or connection between words, phrases, etc., with closely related senses or meanings.
ΚΠ
1911 W. Churchill Polynesian Wanderings App. 328 Aneityum mata new, raw, supplies a sense link between Motu motamata new and Polynesian mata raw.
1957 N. Frye Anat. Crit. iv. 272 The poetic creation..is an associative rhetorical process, most of it below the threshold of consciousness, a chaos of paronomasia, sound-links, ambiguous sense-links, and memory-links very like that of the dream.
1995 R. N. Whybray Bk. Prov.: Surv. of Mod. Study ii. 53 They employed no systematic method in the modern sense: sound links and sense links were employed sometimes together and sometimes separately.
sense-linkage n. now rare a link or connection between words, phrases, etc., with closely related senses or meanings; linkage of this kind.
ΚΠ
1937 ‘C. Caudwell’ Illusion & Reality x. 241 The emotive associations wakened are aroused through sound rather than sense linkages, and hence we call the line musical.
1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use i. 15 The sense-linkage effected by rhyme is an effect of which Arnold was well aware.
sense loan n. [compare German Bedeutungsentlehnung (1895 or earlier)] an extension of the meaning of a word by analogy with a partly synonymous term in another language; the process by which this occurs.
ΚΠ
1931 G. Stern Meaning & Change of Meaning i. 13 The ‘big’ words are especially liable to sense-loans and cross-influences.
1960 S. Stubelius Balloon, Flying-machine, Helicopter 306 After English balloon had acquired the sense ‘balloon’ by sense-loan, renewed sense-loans could take place when French ballon developed new senses.
1993 Hispania 57 252/1 His examples..reveal the extremes of sense loans in languages in contact.
sense-making n. n. the action or process of making sense of or giving meaning to something, esp. new developments and experiences.
ΚΠ
1893 G. M. Gould Meaning & Method Life xv. 287 Civilization is merely a great tool or instrument, a new mental sense, and an indirect extension of the body. Further progress of sense-making or of bodily mechanization becomes therefore unnecessary.
1945 Jrnl. Philos. 42 595 Russell has been extraordinarily responsive..to the demand for criteria of sense-making and verification, shielding his thought against none of the recent careful studies of meaning.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 3 Feb. a11/5 People turn to Internet discussion groups, blogs and other communications tools for ‘sensemaking’, as they sort out with others the change roiling the world around them.
sense-material n. Philosophy (esp. with reference to Kant) that which is given in sensation and developed into knowledge by means of the categories and action of the understanding; see category n. 1b.
ΚΠ
1881 J. H. Stirling Text-bk. Kant 403 In this way, towards synthesis, there is first the pure sense-material of time and space; second, the taking possession of this material by imagination under self-consciousness.
a1902 R. Adamson Devel. Mod. Philos. (1903) II. 68 Nor does inner sense-material lend itself even to the less complete theoretical form of natural science.
2006 Trans. Charles S. Peirce Soc. 42 519 This self brings itself to bear upon sense-material through the categories of understanding.
sense memory n. memory, or a memory, relating to or evoked by one or more of the senses, as sight, smell, hearing, etc. (see sense 12a); spec. (in method acting) the recollection of physical sensations surrounding an event as a technique for convincingly reproducing the emotion felt at such a time; cf. affective memory n. at affective adj. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1886 Mind 11 60 These smaller moments of time speedily fall out of sense-memory into oblivion.
1915 The Word Nov. 126/1 Sense memory is the reproducing by the senses of impressions made upon them.
1936 Theatre Workshop Oct. 85/1 A whole series of exercises in sense memory, and justification have been worked out by Stanislavsky and other great actors.
1941 L. Strasberg in J. Gassner Producing Play iii. 144 The training of the senses to react to imaginary stimuli as they do to real objects is one of the major tasks in the training of the actor. This is accomplished through the use of affective memory, i.e., sense memory.
1988 J. McInerney Story of my Life i. 14 In the afternoon I've got acting class. We start with sense-memory work.
1999 P. Straub Mr. X xliv. 176 A sudden sense-memory of running through Hatchtown's narrow lanes returned the phantom smell of lavender.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 3 Mar. b3/3 Playing a big fat archetype can be liberating for actors used to sweating over sense memory and motivation.
sense modality n. any of the senses, e.g. sight, hearing, taste, etc.; see sense 12a.
ΚΠ
1894 J. E. Creighton & E. B. Titchener tr. W. M. Wundt Lect. Human & Animal Psychol. vii. 119 The individual sensation is estimated by the relation in which it stands to other sensations of the same sense-modality [Ger. Sinnesgebietes].
1977 P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching Eng. ix. 115 The sense-modalities of vision and hearing.
2003 J. M. Coetzee Elizabeth Costello (2004) iii. 77 We need to be able to experience bat life through the sense modalities of a bat.
sense object n. Philosophy an object perceived through the senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1868 N. Porter Human Intellect ii. v. 341 His thoughts were occupied with many phantasms which he considered real... These formed the connecting members and the accompanying scenery of the sense-objects which he perceived.
1908 W. James Meaning of Truth (1909) xii. 239 Our private concepts represent the sense-objects to which they lead us, these being public realities independent of the individual.
2011 Proc. Amer. Philos. Assoc. 84 99 Schlegel..argues that all art is an attempt to bridge the gap between..experience of tangible sense objects and experience of ungraspable ideas, such as freedom.
sense observation n. Philosophy observation by the senses (sense 12a); an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1868 N. Porter Human Intellect i. iv. 136 These bodily changes are apprehended directly in or through sense-observation.
1956 E. L. Mascall Christian Theol. & Nat. Sci. ii. 48 Scientific theories need for their expression technical terms..whose definition in terms of sense-observations is extremely complicated and remote.
2006 China Jrnl. (Austral. National Univ.) No. 56. 199 The most reliable ideas are those verified by logically ordered sense observation.
sense organ n. [compare German Sinnorgan, (now usually) Sinnesorgan (both 18th cent. or earlier)] (originally) an organ of any of the special senses (sight, hearing, smell, and taste); (in later use also) any organ containing nerve cells capable of receiving and responding to stimuli.In extended use in quot. 1826.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sense organ > [noun]
windowc1230
organala1500
sense?1504
sensator1615
sensory1624
sensitory1649
sensatory1673
sense organ1826
sensoriolum1843
1826 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1971) VI. 595 The Creator has given us spiritual Senses and Sense-organs.
1854 R. Owen Struct. Skeleton & Teeth in Orr's Circle Sci.: Org. Nature I. 173 Brain and sense-organs.
1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. xvii. 191 The special sense-organs for perceiving low-frequency vibrations in water.
2006 Clin. Anat. 19 71/1 The turbinates..are derived from the prechordal plate, which is part of the sensory capsules that protected the sense organs..of the ancestral prechordates.
sense-percept n. Philosophy an object perceived by the senses (sense 12a); (also) a perception of such an object.
ΚΠ
1868 N. Porter Human Intellect i. vi. 182 We have before assumed that, by original perception, we do through each of the senses distinguish the body from the spirit, and also know the sense-percept itself as spatial.
1883 Chambers's Jrnl. 10 Feb. 82/2 Has the mental percept been evoked without any antecedent sense-percept?
1907 W. James Pragmatism vi. 218 Some part of a system that dips at numerous points into sense-percepts.
1996 Jrnl. Amer. Acad. Relig. 64 405 We cannot have ‘knowledge’ of this mysterious source and its relations in the usual sense of the term, because no marriage of concept and sense-percept can possibly take place.
sense perception n. chiefly Philosophy perception by the senses (sense 12a); an instance of this.
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 > physical sensibility > [noun] > physical sensation > a physical sensation
feelinga1425
feelc1485
sense1547
sensation1557
impressure1607
impressa1616
impression1632
sense perception1846
1846 J. D. Morell Hist. & Crit. View Speculative Philos. I. ii. 205 Kant took it for granted, as a thing lying altogether beyond the region of proof, the reality of our sense-perceptions.
1971 R. I. Aaron Knowing & Function of Reason iv. 79 The change induced in sense-perception by drugs, such as mescaline.
2005 Yoga Apr. 36/3 The lower mind..that part of the mind that is bound to sense perception.
sense phenomenon n. Philosophy an immediate object of sensation or perception; anything perceivable by the senses ( 12a).
ΚΠ
1838 Boston Q. Rev. Oct. 423 Back then of the sense-phenomena lies the real Man, the Thing, the Reality, of which what is apparent to the senses is the mere symbol, or sign.
1971 R. I. Aaron Knowing & Function of Reason iv. 79 What is sensed has been variously described as idea, impression,..sense-phenomenon, sensum, and so on.
2002 Jrnl. Econ. Hist 62 632 Plato taught that reason could know the truth that was the essences behind varying sense phenomena.
sense picture n. a picture or image created by the functioning of the senses, or appealing to the senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1868 N. Porter Human Intellect ii. vi. 375 We shall not revel in sense-pictures of the fancy, as though the sensuous in them were literal truth.
1890 A. Hill tr. H. Obersteiner Anat. Central Nerv. Organs 168 Through the fibres of this system sense-pictures are projected on the perceptive cortex.
1920 A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravitation ii. 32 It would be unreasonable to limit our thought of nature to what can be comprised in sense-pictures.
1997 R. L. Stine Into the Dark iv. 25 Piece by piece, she built up a sense picture of his face.
sense presentation n. Philosophy something perceived or represented by the senses; the presentation of anything to the senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1855 Brit. Q. Rev. Jan. 11 In the judgment which is expressed by the proposition, ‘this body is heavy’, the general conception of heaviness is united to the sense-presentation implied in the term ‘this body’.
1932 W. T. Stace Theory of Knowl. iii. 34 The images of hallucination and dream are just as much part of the given as are sense presentations.
2005 Relig. & Lit. 37 87 Beckett turns away from mimetic models and models of adequation to an art of Darstellung or immediate sense presentation.
sense quality n. Philosophy a quality perceived by the senses (sense 12a); also as a mass noun.
ΚΠ
1863 Amer. Presbyterian & Theol. Rev. Apr. 228 A sense-quality must always be if a cause is, and as no quality can be thought as coming from nothing, so quality and event must eternally have been coming and departing.
1902 G. Spiller Mind of Man 53 It would perhaps be safest to say that every appreciable sense-change is a change in sense-quality.
2002 R. J. Richards Romantic Conception Life iii. 155 The incautious Kantian philosopher..might interpret the work of productive intuition as necessarily assuming a substrate causing sense qualities.
sense-symbolism n. Philosophy the symbolic function of sensory experience, esp. the relation between sensations whereby one suggests, and thereby functions as a kind of sign of, others previously associated with it in perception.
ΚΠ
1871 A. C. Fraser Life & Lett. G. Berkeley x. 375 The substantiality and causality of matter thus resolve into a Universal Sense-symbolism, the interpretation of which is the office of physical science.
1930 F. R. Tennant Philos. Theol. II. ii. 24 Only when the sense-symbolism admits of translation into mechanical equivalents..is scientific knowledge par excellence attained.
2008 Pluralist 3 16 It is quite to be doubted if among animals the sense-symbolism associated with bodily function..is ever more than an emotional recognition.
sense unit n. chiefly Linguistics a lexical unit (as a word, phrase, passage, etc.) with a particular sense or meaning.
ΚΠ
1880 E. Gurney Power of Sound x. 203 We have not a combination of impressive forms.., but a combination of sense-units of next to no independent value into impressive forms.
1974 R. Quirk Linguist & Eng. Lang. vi. 97 We are dealing with languages whose structures differ so much that..translation..is possible only if we deal in large sense-units.
2013 Jrnl. Near Eastern Stud. 72 118/2 Cogan translates texts by sense units, and comments on them similarly, so that identification of specific line numbers is difficult.
sense verification n. Philosophy verification by means of the senses (sense 12a).
ΚΠ
1868 New Intellect. Repos. 2 Nov. 493 What is to become of poor Comte's positivism, or the doctrine of exclusive sense-verification?
1907 W. James Pragmatism vi. 209 Their relations are perceptually obvious at a glance, and no sense-verification is necessary.
2012 J. Peterson Introd. Thomistic Philos. i. 7 But why in the first instance should philosophy abandon its method of reason in favor of the method of sense verification?
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > short verse or poem > [noun] > short composition in verse (as exercise)
a copy of verses1653
sense verse1743
1743 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 16 July (1932) (modernized text) II. 535 As you are now got into sense verses, remember, that it is not sufficient to put a little common sense into hexameters and pentameters.
1781 T. Carpendale Plan School Carrickmacross 7 The Scholar may now proceed to making Sense Verses; and to prevent his being discouraged at first, it will be proper..to give him easy subjects.
1827 Exam. Scholars Wyke-House, Sion-Hill sig. A2 For Exercise,—Exempla Moralia, and Latin Sense Verses.
sense withdrawal n. [after Sanskrit pratyāhāra pratyahara n.] Yoga = pratyahara n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > non-Christian religions > Hinduism > systems of philosophy > [noun] > yoga > withdrawal of senses from external objects
pratyahara1868
sense withdrawal1937
1937 K. T. Behanan Yoga xiii. 215 In pratyahara or the sense-withdrawal stage, a deliberate effort is made to diminish the impulses streaming in through the sense organs.
1960 J. Hewitt Yoga viii. 116 Sense-Withdrawal is something which you must do for yourself, your ‘I’ must be in complete control.
2015 Colorado Daily (Nexis) 12 May 1 Often, mainstream yoga goes into only a few of these paths, leaving out ‘sense withdrawal’ such as yoga nidra.
sense word n. a word employed for its sense or meaning as opposed to its sound.
ΚΠ
1866 Fortn. Rev. 15 Apr. 552 Nor, I think, would a prudent man even assert that tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee, obvious imitations as they are, have not a sense-word at the bottom of them.
1953 H. Read True Voice of Feeling I. viii. 144 The caesura is..the breaking of the rhythm into sense words of different length from the sound marks.
1998 C. Bernstein Close Listening i. 40 There is no difference between ‘sense’ and ‘sound’ words as words ‘tone up’ or vary the implications of sound and meaning.
sense-world n. [after German Sinnenwelt (1781 in the passage translated in quot. 1838, or earlier)] Philosophy the world as perceived by or knowable through the senses.
ΚΠ
1838 F. Haywood tr. I. Kant Critick Pure Reason i. 233 The division of objects into phœnomena and noumena, and of the world into a sense-world and an understanding-world, can therefore not at all be granted in a positive meaning.
1911 W. James Some Probl. Philos. viii. 139 Monism usually treats the sense-world as a mirage or illusion.
2005 Slavic & East European Jrnl. 49 26 Neo-Platonists..conceived the universal order in terms of gradual, upward advancement from the sense-world..towards the heavenly firmament associated with the Absolute.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
sensev.
/sɛns/, U.S. /sɛns/ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > mean [verb (intransitive)]
bea1200
understand?c1425
sense1564
interpret1614
magnify1712
to speak for itself1779
to add up to1873
mean1926
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)]
talec897
ween971
takec1175
weigha1200
deem?c1225
judge?c1225
guessc1330
reta1382
accounta1387
aretc1386
assize1393
consider1398
ponder?a1400
adjudgec1440
reckonc1440
peisec1460
ponderate?a1475
poisea1483
trutinate1528
steem1535
rate?1555
sense1564
compute1604
censure1605
cast1606
cense1606
estimate1651
audit1655
state1671
balance1692
esteem1711
appraise1823
figure1854
tally1860
revalue1894
lowball1973
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > mean [verb (transitive)] > ascribe meaning to
sense1564
to make outa1625
to make sense of1912
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > expound, explain [verb (transitive)] > as something
sense1564
1564 J. Rastell Confut. Serm. M. Iuell f. 22 They haue sensed and interpreted the scriptures most vntruly.
1623 T. Aylesbury Serm. 4 The first [exposition]..is Origens, who hath sensed the bodie to be the church.
1631 J. Done Polydoron sig. D12v The word good fellow as it is now senced by the vulgar, imports a drunkard.
1687 E. Stillingfleet Doctr. Trinity & Transubstant. ii. 2 Pr. How doth it [sc. the Doctrine of the Trinity] appear? P. By the Scripture sensed by the Church.
1726 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 261 Dr. Clarke at first tried to reconcile his doctrine to that of the Church of England, by sensing the Articles.
1729 J. Glas Testimony King of Martyrs i. 10 The Words are variously render'd; but however they be translated, the Kingdom of the Messiah is their scope. And there is no Reason that I know of, why they may not be render'd and sensed thus.
1770 S. Loftus Controv. Churches Rome & Eng. i. iii. 55 They of the Church of Rome, in order to advance..themselves the only Expositors of the written Word; are ever wont to deny it any Certainty, Authority or Meaning, unless proved, witnessed and sensed by their infallible Church.
2. † d. transitive. To contemplate or weigh in order to gain an appreciation or understanding of. Obsolete. rare.Only recorded in J. Bunyan.
a. transitive. To feel, to be conscious of (an emotion or inward state).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [verb (transitive)] > an inward state
sense1598
1598 S. Rowlands Betraying of Christ sig. D Could sinnes-besotted, hell-path wrandrers, see The horrours on an out-cast wretch imposed, Or sence the inward worme that gnaweth me.
1649 R. A. Saints Duty Discoursed 52 Examine whether or no you sence your sinnes deeply, I cannot instance in whom sinne was pardoned comfortably, that was never sensed deeply.
1685 W. Adams God's Eye on Contrite 4 The man that does duly sense his spiritual poverty.
1705 R. Traill Lord's Prayer v. 77 Our own Sinfulness and Infirmity is better known to us, and sensed by us, than his Righteousness and perfect Fulness.
1755 T. Amory Mem. Ladies Ded. p. vi Your books and philosophy..hinder you from ever sensing the irksomeness of solitude and indolence.
1765 E. Harwood Chearful Thoughts vii. 52 All the raised felicities that human nature is capable of sensing.
1893 L. Armstrong Washington Brown, Farmer iii. 23 He sensed again that weariness that went to his heart.
1924 Chicago Defender 31 May 5/6 Older Chicagoans sense a deep sympathetic feeling in the realization that life's milestones are being steadily counted off.
2008 N.Y. Times 13 Apr. wk 4 This was the first and last time that I sensed true closeness to the pope.
b. transitive. Originally and chiefly Philosophy. To have a sense perception of (an object, occurrence, etc.). Also occasionally: to be aware of having (a sensation); intransitive: to experience sensations (sensation n. 1a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [verb (transitive)]
fredec888
haveeOE
yfeeleOE
feelc1175
perceivec1330
comprehendc1374
find?a1425
perceiver1495
to take up1607
sensatea1652
percept1652
to suck ina1661
sense1661
appreciate1787
absorb1840
sensize1861
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xxii. 218 Is he [sc. the Sciolist] sure, that objects are not otherwise sensed by others, then they are by him?
1704 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World II. ii. 81 All that we sense or experience, are the outward Actions and Motions which proceed from them.
1884 ‘Scotus Novanticus’ Metaphysica Nova et Vetusta iv. i. 91 We did not then perceive extension or space as such, although it was felt in the very first breath which consciousness drew, and was afterwards sensed.
1904 E. B. Titchener tr. W. M. Wundt Princ. Physiol. Psychol. I. 14 We may sense in dreams, or in a state of hallucination, as intensively as we sense under the operation of actual sensory stimuli.
1972 R. B. Jager Devel. Bertrand Russell's Philos. vii. 370 We sense sensations when we perceive physical objects.
2013 K. Levin in Art & Identity vi. 149 Art can be considered..the creation of the sensible or what can be sensed.
c. transitive. To feel (pain); to feel or perceive (a quality, texture, etc.) through the senses.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > suffer pain [verb (transitive)]
acorea1200
suffera1250
get?c1430
insuffer1488
sensea1669
suffer1796
rax1898
a1669 J. Norman Cases of Conscience (1673) iv. 200 A small prick is soon sensed by a sound part; but pierce, press, cut, knock, &c. a seared part, and there is no sense of pain.
1682 J. Flavell Pract. Treat. Fear (new ed.) vii. 129 They loved their lives, and sensed their pains as well as you.
1704 T. Staynoe Salvation by Jesus Christ Alone II. vii. 179 They are capable of feeling (I would say sensing) the Execution of the Punishment pronounced upon them.
1813 A. Crossman Serm. Funeral Charles Miles 4 The body is capable of sensing the most excrutiating pain and distress.
1890 Young Women's Jrnl. Dec. 116/1 Her eyes were wide open; it was broad daylight and the sun shone brightly; she sensed all this.
a1919 J. M. Johanson Ess. Verse & Lett. (1920) 138 He places the soles of his feet gently upon the surface of the water, sensing the smooth coolness.
1966 Rev. Metaphysics 20 317 I (and only I) can sense my own pain.
1988 F. G. Asenjo In-between i. 11 We must move a hand over a surface to sense its roughness.
2014 J. Watkins Fund. Biomechanics of Sport & Exercise v. 123 Having sensed the heat from the coffee pot, the child decides to move her hand away.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > try or test [verb (transitive)]
fandc893
costeneOE
afondOE
provea1200
fraista1300
assay1330
sayc1330
try1362
approvec1380
examinea1382
winnowa1382
tempt1382
tastea1400
assailc1405
essay1484
scryc1615
sensea1688
test1748
trial1981
dogfood1997
a1688 J. Bunyan Expos. Ten First Chapters Genesis iii, in Wks. (1692) 15/2 She took Satan's Arguments into Consideration and sensed or tasted them; not by the Word of God, but her own natural, or rather sore-deluded Fancy.
a1688 J. Bunyan Christ Compl. Saviour in Wks. (1692) 385/1 To sense, smell and taste, what saving is, and so to understand the nature of the Office and Work of a Saviour, is a rare thing kept close from most.
3. transitive. Originally U.S. To understand, know, grasp. Now rare.In later use merging with sense 4a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)]
yknoweOE
acknowOE
anyeteOE
latchc1000
undernimc1000
understandc1000
underyetec1000
afindOE
knowOE
seeOE
onfangc1175
takec1175
underfindc1200
underfonga1300
undertakea1300
kenc1330
gripea1340
comprehend1340
comprendc1374
espyc1374
perceivea1387
to take for ——?1387
catcha1398
conceivea1398
intenda1400
overtakea1400
tenda1400
havec1405
henta1450
comprise1477
skilla1500
brook1548
apprend1567
compass1576
perstanda1577
endue1590
sound1592
engrasp1593
in1603
fathom1611
resent1614
receivea1616
to take up1617
apprehend1631
to take in1646
grasp1680
understumblec1681
forstand1682
savvy1686
overstand1699
uptake1726
nouse1779
twig1815
undercumstand1824
absorb1840
sense1844
undercumstumble1854
seize1855
intelligize1865
dig1935
read1956
1844 Juvenile Guide ii. i. 91 When entering a house..devoted as a place of divine worship, always..conduct in the fear of God, sensing that you are in his holy presence.
1849 Knickerbocker Mar. 201 ‘Do you sense what you are doing, Jack?’ said she. ‘Sense it, Susy?’ replied Blackstone; ‘I do, to the letter.’
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles III. xlviii. 149 I cannot sense your meaning sometimes.
1915 G. Stratton-Porter Daughter of Land vi. 105 Don't you sense that she's a daughter of Adam Bates?
1930 Automotive Industries 20 Sept. 417/2 Some others..just don't sense the fact that it is their authority rather than the soundness of their ideas that subordinates frequently are voicing agreement with.
4.
a. transitive. To perceive by intuition or instinct; to be or become aware of; to feel more or less distinctly.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [verb (transitive)]
fredec888
feelOE
apprehend1592
sense1872
1872 L. Oliphant in M. O. W. Oliphant Mem. of Life (1891) II. ix. 101 He ‘senses’ the least coldness towards himself, and it stops everything.
1885 W. T. Hornaday Two Years in Jungle xvii. 189 When I was ready to fire again the herd sensed the danger and made off.
1904 M. Hewlett Queen's Quair i. vii. 102 Queen Mary watched her closely, sensing an enemy.
1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xxiv. 155 The man in the back seat made a sudden flashing movement that I sensed rather than saw.
1973 A. Wise & D. Ware Stunting in Cinema iv. 102 The horse sensed him coming and side-stepped.
2006 C. N. Adichie Half Yellow Sun (2007) xxviii. 336 They laughed and she sensed, between them, a vulgar and delicious female bond.
b. transitive. With clause as object. Frequently with that.
ΚΠ
1892 S. C. Clark Lorita xi. 113 I sensed there was something for me to do last night, before I went out into the tempest, in time to see you fall.
1920 Catholic World Nov. 233 I have been watching the pair of you and sensed what the outcome would be some little while ago.
1946 Motorboating June 84/1 The crew came alive that minute, everyone sensing that a race was on.
1977 P. Kavanagh By Night Unstarred xiii. 91 As he approached the gate he sensed, without actually seeing, that someone was on the far side of the fence.
1984 A. Smith Mind III. xi. 175 We can sense if we are falling over.
2008 New Yorker 9 June 132/3 Janet..senses that she's going to lose Susan as a friend because of the move.
5. transitive. Of a machine, instrument, or similar device: to detect or measure.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > of instrument, etc.: detect [verb (transitive)]
to pick up1857
sense1896
read1974
1896 Medico-legal Jrnl. 14 328 Thoughts are things having..material attributes capable of being sensed by an instrument sufficiently delicate in its construction to catch the vibration of these sentient products of vital function.
1907 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 15 288 The discovery of a method for sensing and locating macroseisms through the body of the planet.
1946 Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. 1 22 In the event that one or both of the factors involved in a multiplication are negative numbers, this fact is sensed and stored by the multiply unit.
1978 Sci. Amer. June 54/3 Particle detectors operate by sensing the ionization of atoms caused by the passage of a charged particle.
1993 Financial Times 9 Sept. 22/1 An implantable device which senses blood sugar levels and dispenses insulin.
2007 Eye Spy No. 48. 60/2 If it senses a ‘sweep’ is taking place, the device automatically shuts down and stops transmitting.
6. transitive. Of a cell, single-celled organism, or other organism lacking a nervous system: to detect (a change in external or internal conditions).
ΚΠ
1900 Amer. Monthly Rev. of Rev. June 742/2 Some writers compare the way in which plants sense external conditions and respond to them, with similar sensations and responses in animals.
1970 Richardson (Texas) Daily News 27 Aug. 8/5 In the fall plants sense that growing time is shorter, and they hasten their growth.
1987 N. Y. Mag. 13 July 46/2 The body's white blood cells sense the presence of a foreign organ and attack it, destroying the new organ's muscle cells.
1999 Science 2 Apr. 82/2 When a bacterium senses a desirable substance, such as an amino acid, it follows a steadier course toward this target.
2006 J. W. Tichelaar & G. D. Leikauf in D. Warshawsky & J. R. Landolph Molecular Carcinogenesis & Molecular Biol. Human Cancer xv. 326 When a cell senses DNA damage p53 plays a critical role in blocking cell division and allowing the DNA repair processes to occur.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.a1382
v.1564