Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Something, such as a hint or question, designed to elicit the attitudes or intentions of others.
- noun Zoology A sensory or tactile organ, such as an antenna, tentacle, or barbel.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who or that which feels.
- noun Specifically Any special organ of touch of an animal; a tactile part.
- noun The representation on an artificial fly of an antenna of an insect. Feelers are folded back, extending above and sometimes beyond the wings.
- noun Any indirect act, device, stratagem, or plan resorted to for the purpose of finding out something which cannot be ascertained directly, especially the designs, opinions, or sentiments of others.
- noun Nautical, the first onset of a storm, followed by a short calm.
- noun A thickness-gage.
- noun A thin piece of metal for determining the space or play left in a bearing or for determining the distance between the two plates in a riveted joint.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who, or that which, feels.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of the sense organs or certain animals (as insects), which are used in testing objects by touch and in searching for food; an antenna; a palp.
- noun Anything, as a proposal, observation, etc., put forth or thrown out in order to ascertain the views of others; something tentative.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun literally Someone or something that
feels . - noun anatomy An
antenna orappendage used forfeeling , especially on aninsect . - noun figuratively Something ventured to
test (an)other(s)'feelings , opinion, position.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun one of a pair of mobile appendages on the head of e.g. insects and crustaceans; typically sensitive to touch and taste
- noun a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others
- noun sensitivity similar to that of a receptor organ
- noun slender tactile process on the jaws of a fish
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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When she got a feeler from the two-year-old online auction business, she hadn't expected to be interested.
Whitman's $139 million could turn Calif. race Karen Tumulty 2010
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When she first got a feeler from the two-year-old online auction business, she hadn't expected to be interested.
Meg Whitman's $140 million could turn Calif. governor's vote Karen Tumulty 2010
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When she first got a feeler from the two-year-old online auction business, she hadn't expected to be interested.
Meg Whitman's $140 million could turn Calif. governor's vote Karen Tumulty 2010
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The battle of the preceding day had been a sort of "feeler" -- now the real struggle came.
Mohun, or, the Last Days of Lee John Esten Cooke 1858
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22 This referred to a feeler from a retired Wall Street capitalist.
Mark Twain Ron Powers 2005
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22 This referred to a feeler from a retired Wall Street capitalist.
Mark Twain Ron Powers 2005
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The accident occurred late Tuesday Feb. 8, when a tool known as a feeler gauge, which is made up of 13 thin strips of metal held together by a screw, came apart.
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"feeler" -- the advance agent of the selling campaign.
Business Correspondence Anonymous
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Its detector 'feeler' converted brainwaves into visible swirls of colour and symbolic iridescent forms onto a large screen.
Mystery of the Anti Scheer, Karl 1976
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Apparently this was less a matured plan than a "feeler," put out to sound British attitude and to learn, if possible, whether the tie previously binding England and
Great Britain and the American Civil War Ephraim Douglass Adams
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