Feeble, fē′bl, adj. weak: wanting in strength of body, energy, or efficiency: showing weakness or incapacity: faint: dull.—adj. Fee′ble-mind′ed, weak-minded: irresolute.—n. Fee′bleness—(Spens.) Fe′blesse.—adv. Fee′bly. [O. Fr. foible, for floible—L. flebilis, lamentable, from flēre, to weep.]
Feed, fēd, v.t. to give food to: to nourish: to furnish with necessary material: to foster.—v.i. to take food: to nourish one's self by eating:—pr.p. feed′ing; pa.t. and pa.p. fed.—n. an allowance of provender, esp. to cattle: the motion forward of anything being fed to a machine: (Milt.) a meal: (Shak.) pasture land.—ns. Feed′er, he who feeds, or that which supplies: an eater: one who abets another: one who fattens cattle: (obs.) a parasite; Feed′-head, the cistern that supplies water to the boiler of a steam-engine; Feed′-heat′er, an apparatus for heating the water supplied to a steam-boiler; Feed′ing, act of eating: that which is eaten: pasture: the placing of the sheets of paper in position for a printing or ruling machine; Feed′ing-bott′le, a bottle for supplying liquid food to an infant; Feed′-pipe, a pipe for supplying a boiler or cistern with water; Feed′-pump, a force-pump for supplying a steam-engine boiler with water. [A.S. fédan, to feed.]
Fee-faw-fum, fē′-faw′-fum′, n. a nursery word for anything frightful.
Feel, fēl, v.t. to perceive by the touch: to handle or try by touch: to be conscious of: to be keenly sensible of: to have an inward persuasion of.—v.i. to know by the touch: to have the emotions excited: to produce a certain sensation when touched, as to feel hard or hot:—pr.p. feel′ing; pa.t. and pa.p. felt.—n. the sensation of touch.—ns. Feel′er, a remark cautiously dropped, or any indirect stratagem, to sound the opinions of others: (pl.) jointed fibres in the heads of insects, &c., possessed of a delicate sense of touch, termed antennæ; Feel′ing, the sense of touch: perception of objects by touch: consciousness of pleasure or pain: tenderness: emotion: sensibility, susceptibility, sentimentality: opinion as resulting from emotion: (pl.) the affections or passions.—adj. expressive of great sensibility or tenderness: easily affected.—adv. Feel′ingly.—Feel after (B.), to search for. [A.S. félan, to feel; Ger. fühlen; prob. akin to L. palpāre, to quiver.]
Feer, fēr, n. (Spens.) a companion, a spouse. [A.S. ge-féra, a companion—ge-féran, to travel.]
Fee-simple, Fee-tail. See under Fee.
Feet, fēt, pl. of Foot.—adj. Feet′less, without feet.
Feign, fān, v.t. to invent: to imagine: to make a show or pretence of, to counterfeit, simulate.—adj. Feigned, pretended: simulating.—adv. Feign′edly.—ns. Feign′edness; Feign′ing. [Fr. feindre, pr.p. feignant, to feign.—L. fingĕre, fictum, to form.]
Feint, fānt, n. a false appearance: a pretence: a mock-assault: a deceptive movement in fencing, boxing, &c.—v.i. to make a feint. [Fr., see above.]
Feldspar, feld′spär, n. (min.) a general term for the most important rock-forming group of minerals—all anhydrous silicates of alumina—divided into those in which the minerals crystallise in monoclinic and in triclinic forms—also Fel′spar, Feld′spath.—adjs. Feldspath′ic, Feld′spathose. [Ger. feldspath—feld, a field, spath, spar.]