feel

Etymology 1

From Middle English felen, from Old English fēlan, from Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan.

verb

1. (heading) To use or experience the sense of touch.
   1. (transitive, copulative) To become aware of through the skin; to use the sense of touch on.
      You can feel a heartbeat if you put your fingers on your breast.
      I felt cold and miserable all night.
   2. (transitive) To find one's way (literally or figuratively) by touching or using cautious movements.
      I felt my way through the darkened room.
      I felt my way cautiously through the dangerous business maneuver.
   3. (intransitive) To receive information by touch or by any neurons other than those responsible for sight, smell, taste, or hearing.
   4. (intransitive) To search by sense of touch.
      He felt for the light switch in the dark.
2. (heading) To sense or think emotionally or judgmentally.
   1. (transitive) To experience an emotion or other mental state about.
      I can feel the sadness in his poems.
      British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far. 2013-08-10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
   2. (transitive) To think, believe, or have an impression concerning.
      I feel that we need to try harder.
   3. (intransitive, copulative) To experience an emotion or other mental state.
      He obviously feels strongly about it.
      She felt even more upset when she heard the details.
   4. (intransitive) To sympathise; to have the sensibilities moved or affected.
      I feel for you and your plight.
      who feel for all mankind 1738, Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires
3. (transitive) To be or become aware of.
4. (transitive) To experience the consequences of.
   Feel my wrath!
5. (copulative) To seem (through touch or otherwise).
   It looks like wood, but it feels more like plastic.
   This is supposed to be a party, but it feels more like a funeral!
6. (transitive, US, slang) To understand.
   I don't want you back here, ya feel me?
   Shoot, errbody have the zipper jacket / And half of these thugs have the glove to match, ya feel me? 2002, “Work It”, in Under Construction, performed by Missy Elliott

noun

1. (archaic) The sense of touch.
   It begins as a firm elastic swelling, which communicates to the feel the idea that a fluid is contained under a firm fascia […] 1838, John Burns, The Principles of Surgery, volume 1, page 330
2. A perception experienced mainly or solely through the sense of touch.
   Bark has a rough feel.
   And then something in the sound or the feel of the waters made him look down, and he perceived that the ebb had begun and the tide was flowing out to sea. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
   The unshanked snaffle bit is good for bending and getting a horse used to the feel of a bit. 2010, Nathan Bowers, 4-H Guide to Training Horses, page 111
3. A vague mental impression.
   You should get a feel for the area before moving in.
   You can arrange camel trips into the desert but to really get a feel for this allow yourself a couple of extra days and be prepared for what at times can be an uncomfortable journey: Xuan Zang tells us that as he left Khotan he was ‘attacked by tornados which bring with them clouds of flying gravel’. 2010, Paul Wilson, “Khotan (Hetian)”, in The Silk Roads: A Route & Planning Guide, 3rd edition (Travel), Trailblazer Publications, →OCLC, page 379
4. An act of fondling.
   She gave me a quick feel to show that she loves me.
5. A vague understanding.
   I'm getting a feel for what you mean.
6. An intuitive ability.
   She has a feel for music.
7. (chiefly US, slang) A feeling; an emotion.
   I know that feel.

Etymology 2

See fele.

pron

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

adj

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

adv

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele