feeler
feeler Lexical Profile
feeler Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A slender, flexible sensory organ on the head of an insect, crustacean, or other animal, used for testing things by touch or detecting odors; an antenna, tentacle, or whisker.
"The beetle used its long feelers to navigate along the dark forest floor."
A tentative proposal, remark, or inquiry made to ascertain the views, attitudes, or intentions of others (usually used in the plural).
"She put out a few feelers to see if any rival firms were hiring senior engineers."
A thin strip of metal of precise thickness used for measuring narrow gaps or clearances between mechanical parts; a feeler gauge.
"The mechanic slid a metal feeler between the spark plug electrodes to check the gap."
• Rhymes for feeler
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Middle English as an agent noun from the verb 'feel' (from Old English 'felan', meaning to touch or perceive) combined with the suffix '-er'. The sense of an insect's sensory organ emerged in the late 17th century, and the figurative political or social sense of a tentative proposal followed in the 19th century.