Feeling

n. 1. The sense by which the mind, through certain nerves of the body, perceives external objects, or certain states of the body itself; that one of the five senses which resides in the general nerves of sensation distributed over the body, especially in its surface; the sense of touch; nervous sensibility to external objects. Why was the sight To such a tender ball as the eye confined, And not as feeling, through all parts diffused? Milton. 2. An act or state of perception by the sense above described; an act of apprehending any object whatever; an act or state of apprehending the state of the soul itself; consciousness. The apprehension of the good Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. Shak.

3. The capacity of the soul for emotional states; a high degree of susceptibility to emotions or states of the sensibility not dependent on the body; as, a man of feeling; a man destitute of feeling.
4. Any state or condition of emotion; the exercise of the capacity for emotion; any mental state whatever; as, a wrong feeling in the heart; our angry feelings; a feeling of pride. “Tenderness for the feelings of others.” Macaulay.
5. That visible quality of a work of art which embodies the mental emotion of the painter, and similarly affects the spectator. Fairholt.

Syn.—Sensation; emotion; passion; sentiment; agitation; opinion. See EMOTION, PASSION, SENTIMENT.