- To feel after
- Feel Feel, v. i.
1. To have perception by the touch, or by contact of anything
with the nerves of sensation, especially those upon the
surface of the body.
[1913 Webster]
2. To have the sensibilities moved or affected. [1913 Webster]
[She] feels with the dignity of a Roman matron. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
And mine as man, who feel for all mankind. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
3. To be conscious of an inward impression, state of mind, persuasion, physical condition, etc.; to perceive one's self to be; -- followed by an adjective describing the state, etc.; as, to feel assured, grieved, persuaded. [1913 Webster]
I then did feel full sick. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
4. To know with feeling; to be conscious; hence, to know certainly or without misgiving. [1913 Webster]
Garlands . . . which I feel I am not worthy yet to wear. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
5. To appear to the touch; to give a perception; to produce an impression by the nerves of sensation; -- followed by an adjective describing the kind of sensation. [1913 Webster]
Blind men say black feels rough, and white feels smooth. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
{To feel after}, to search for; to seek to find; to seek as a person groping in the dark. ``If haply they might feel after him, and find him.'' --Acts xvii. 27.
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.