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2 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 :   [ gcide ]

  Sense \Sense\, n. [L. sensus, from sentire, sensum, to perceive,
     to feel, from the same root as E. send; cf. OHG. sin sense,
     mind, sinnan to go, to journey, G. sinnen to meditate, to
     think: cf. F. sens. For the change of meaning cf. See, v.
     t. See Send, and cf. Assent, Consent, Scent, v. t.,
     Sentence, Sentient.]
     1. (Physiol.) A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving
        external objects by means of impressions made upon certain
        organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of
        perceiving changes in the condition of the body; as, the
        senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. See
        Muscular sense, under Muscular, and Temperature
        sense, under Temperature.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What surmounts the reach
              Of human sense I shall delineate.     --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The traitor Sense recalls
              The soaring soul from rest.           --Keble.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation;
        sensibility; feeling.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              In a living creature, though never so great, the
              sense and the affects of any one part of the body
              instantly make a transcursion through the whole.
                                                    --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Perception through the intellect; apprehension;
        recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              This Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover.
                                                    --Sir P.
                                                    Sidney.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              High disdain from sense of injured merit. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good
        mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound,
        true, or reasonable; rational meaning. ``He speaks
        sense.'' --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He raves; his words are loose
              As heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. That which is felt or is held as a sentiment, view, or
        opinion; judgment; notion; opinion.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I speak my private but impartial sense
              With freedom.                         --Roscommon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The municipal council of the city had ceased to
              speak the sense of the citizens.      --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. Meaning; import; signification; as, the true sense of
        words or phrases; the sense of a remark.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So they read in the book in the law of God
              distinctly, and gave the sense.       --Neh. viii.
                                                    8.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I think 't was in another sense.      --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. Moral perception or appreciation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no
              sense of the most friendly offices.   --L' Estrange.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     8. (Geom.) One of two opposite directions in which a line,
        surface, or volume, may be supposed to be described by the
        motion of a point, line, or surface.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Common sense, according to Sir W. Hamilton:
        (a) ``The complement of those cognitions or convictions
            which we receive from nature, which all men possess in
            common, and by which they test the truth of knowledge
            and the morality of actions.''
        (b) ``The faculty of first principles.'' These two are the
            philosophical significations.
        (c) ``Such ordinary complement of intelligence, that,if a
            person be deficient therein, he is accounted mad or
            foolish.''
        (d) When the substantive is emphasized: ``Native practical
            intelligence, natural prudence, mother wit, tact in
            behavior, acuteness in the observation of character,
            in contrast to habits of acquired learning or of
            speculation.''
  
     Moral sense. See under Moral,
        (a) .
  
     The inner sense, or The internal sense, capacity of the
        mind to be aware of its own states; consciousness;
        reflection. ``This source of ideas every man has wholly in
        himself, and though it be not sense, as having nothing to
        do with external objects, yet it is very like it, and
        might properly enough be called internal sense.'' --Locke.
  
     Sense capsule (Anat.), one of the cartilaginous or bony
        cavities which inclose, more or less completely, the
        organs of smell, sight, and hearing.
  
     Sense organ (Physiol.), a specially irritable mechanism by
        which some one natural force or form of energy is enabled
        to excite sensory nerves; as the eye, ear, an end bulb or
        tactile corpuscle, etc.
  
     Sense organule (Anat.), one of the modified epithelial
        cells in or near which the fibers of the sensory nerves
        terminate.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Understanding; reason.
  
     Usage: Sense, Understanding, Reason. Some philosophers
            have given a technical signification to these terms,
            which may here be stated. Sense is the mind's acting
            in the direct cognition either of material objects or
            of its own mental states. In the first case it is
            called the outer, in the second the inner, sense.
            Understanding is the logical faculty, i. e., the power
            of apprehending under general conceptions, or the
            power of classifying, arranging, and making
            deductions. Reason is the power of apprehending those
            first or fundamental truths or principles which are
            the conditions of all real and scientific knowledge,
            and which control the mind in all its processes of
            investigation and deduction. These distinctions are
            given, not as established, but simply because they
            often occur in writers of the present day.
            [1913 Webster]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :   [ web1913 ]

  Sense \Sense\, n. [L. sensus, from sentire, sensum, to perceive,
     to feel, from the same root as E. send; cf. OHG. sin sense,
     mind, sinnan to go, to journey, G. sinnen to meditate, to
     think: cf. F. sens. For the change of meaning cf. See, v.
     t. See Send, and cf. Assent, Consent, Scent, v. t.,
     Sentence, Sentient.]
     1. (Physiol.) A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving
        external objects by means of impressions made upon certain
        organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of
        perceiving changes in the condition of the body; as, the
        senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. See
        Muscular sense, under Muscular, and Temperature
        sense, under Temperature.
  
              Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep. --Shak.
  
              What surmounts the reach Of human sense I shall
              delineate.                            --Milton.
  
              The traitor Sense recalls The soaring soul from
              rest.                                 --Keble.
  
     2. Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation;
        sensibility; feeling.
  
              In a living creature, though never so great, the
              sense and the affects of any one part of the body
              instantly make a transcursion through the whole.
                                                    --Bacon.
  
     3. Perception through the intellect; apprehension;
        recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation.
  
              This Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover.
                                                    --Sir P.
                                                    Sidney.
  
              High disdain from sense of injured merit. --Milton.
  
     4. Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good
        mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound,
        true, or reasonable; rational meaning. ``He speaks
        sense.'' --Shak.
  
              He raves; his words are loose As heaps of sand, and
              scattering wide from sense.           --Dryden.
  
     5. That which is felt or is held as a sentiment, view, or
        opinion; judgment; notion; opinion.
  
              I speak my private but impartial sense With freedom.
                                                    --Roscommon.
  
              The municipal council of the city had ceased to
              speak the sense of the citizens.      --Macaulay.
  
     6. Meaning; import; signification; as, the true sense of
        words or phrases; the sense of a remark.
  
              So they read in the book in the law of God
              distinctly, and gave the sense.       --Neh. viii.
                                                    8.
  
              I think 't was in another sense.      --Shak.
  
     7. Moral perception or appreciation.
  
              Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no
              sense of the most friendly offices.   --L' Estrange.
  
     8. (Geom.) One of two opposite directions in which a line,
        surface, or volume, may be supposed to be described by the
        motion of a point, line, or surface.
  
     Common sense, according to Sir W. Hamilton:
        (a) ``The complement of those cognitions or convictions
            which we receive from nature, which all men possess in
            common, and by which they test the truth of knowledge
            and the morality of actions.''
        (b) ``The faculty of first principles.'' These two are the
            philosophical significations.
        (c) ``Such ordinary complement of intelligence, that,if a
            person be deficient therein, he is accounted mad or
            foolish.''
        (d) When the substantive is emphasized: ``Native practical
            intelligence, natural prudence, mother wit, tact in
            behavior, acuteness in the observation of character,
            in contrast to habits of acquired learning or of
            speculation.''
  
     Moral sense. See under Moral,
        (a) .
  
     The inner, or internal, sense, capacity of the mind to
        be aware of its own states; consciousness; reflection.
        ``This source of ideas every man has wholly in himself,
        and though it be not sense, as having nothing to do with
        external objects, yet it is very like it, and might
        properly enough be called internal sense.'' --Locke.
  
     Sense capsule (Anat.), one of the cartilaginous or bony
        cavities which inclose, more or less completely, the
        organs of smell, sight, and hearing.
  
     Sense organ (Physiol.), a specially irritable mechanism by
        which some one natural force or form of energy is enabled
        to excite sensory nerves; as the eye, ear, an end bulb or
        tactile corpuscle, etc.
  
     Sense organule (Anat.), one of the modified epithelial
        cells in or near which the fibers of the sensory nerves
        terminate.
  
     Syn: Understanding; reason.
  
     Usage: Sense, Understanding, Reason. Some philosophers
            have given a technical signification to these terms,
            which may here be stated. Sense is the mind's acting
            in the direct cognition either of material objects or
            of its own mental states. In the first case it is
            called the outer, in the second the inner, sense.
            Understanding is the logical faculty, i. e., the power
            of apprehending under general conceptions, or the
            power of classifying, arranging, and making
            deductions. Reason is the power of apprehending those
            first or fundamental truths or principles which are
            the conditions of all real and scientific knowledge,
            and which control the mind in all its processes of
            investigation and deduction. These distinctions are
            given, not as established, but simply because they
            often occur in writers of the present day.

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