Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definitions: Feeler |
FeelerNoun1. One of a pair of mobile appendages on the head of e.g. insects and crustaceans; typically sensitive to touch and taste. 2. A tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others; "she rejected his advances". 3. Sensitivity similar to that of a receptor organ; "he had a special antenna for public relations". 4. Slender tactile process on the jaws of a fish. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "feeler" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1842. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Mechanical Engineering | That part of a tracer-controlled copying attachment which scans the pattern and directs the servomechanism. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: FeelerSynonyms: advance (n), antenna (n), approach (n), barbel (n), overture (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Experiment | Grope; feel one's way, grope for one's way; fumble, t_tonner, aller _ t_tons, put out a feeler, throw out a feeler; send up a trial balloon, send up a pilot balloon; see how the land lies, get the lay of the land, test the waters, feel out, sound out, take the pulse, see, check, check out, see how the wind blows; consult the barometer; feel the pulse; fish for, bob for; cast for, beat about for; angle, trawl, cast one's net, beat the bushes. |
Feeler; trial balloon, pilot balloon, messenger balloon; pilot engine; scout; straw to show the wind. | |
Inquiry | Interrogatory; interpellation; challenge, examination, cross-examination, catechism; feeler, Socratic method, zetetic philosophy; leading question; discussion; (reasoning). |
Touch | Verb: touch, feel, handle, finger, thumb, paw, fumble, grope, grabble; twiddle, tweedle; pass the fingers over, run the fingers over; manipulate, wield; throw out a feeler. |
Hand, finger, forefinger, thumb, paw, feeler, antenna; palpus. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Feeler" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Feeler" is used about 7 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 7 | 133,076 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "feeler" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Feeler | Last name | 130 | 64,172 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "feeler": peace feeler ♦ put out a feeler ♦ throw out a feeler. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "feeler": feeler-like. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
feeler | 36 |
feeler gauge | 26 |
curb feeler | 12 |
feeler gauge stock | 3 |
feeler gages | 3 |
feeler lathe | 3 |
feeler gauge metric | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "feeler"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zbulonjës, sondazh (poll, scan, sounding), antenë (antenna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مجس قرن الحشرة, جاسة, اللامس, الحاس, إقتراح (instance, motion, offer, offering, proposal, proposition, suggestion, vote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | сондаж, разузнавач (guide, intelligencer, scout), намек (allusion, cue, dig, half word, hint, indirection, inkling, insinuation, intimation, office, pointer, side glance, suggestion, tip off, wink), мустаче (antenna, barb, barbell, cirrus, runner, shoot, tendril, tentacle, trailer), агент (agent, broker, factor, implement, investigator, minister, nark, plant, procurator), антена (aerial, antenna), пипалце (barb, cirrus, palp, palpus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 觸' (antenna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | tykadlo (antenna, horn, tentacle), pokusný balónek. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | føler (contour follower, detecting device, probe, sensor, tracer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | stuurschuif (contour follower, tracer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | tuntoelin (contour follower, copying sensor, copying stylus, detecting device, follower, probe, sensing element, sensor, tactile organ, tracer, tracer finger). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | tentacule, tâteur, palpeur, calibre, antenne (branch line carrying feeder, feeder line, single feeder). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | fühler (aerial, antenna, contour follower, feelers, head, horn, probe, pyrometer in protection tube, pyrometric rod, sensing device, sensor, sheathed pyrometer, tentacle, tentacles, tracer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κεραία έντομου (palp), ανιχνευτής (contour follower, demodulator, detector, detector cell, head, measurement cell, measuring cell, pathfinder, probe, radionuclide scanning, scanner, scout, sensing component, sensor, sensor element, tracer), αυτόσ που αγγίζει, αυτόσ που αισθάνεται. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | משוש" (aerial, antenna), קרן משוש, "ערת 'שוש. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | csáp (antenna, horn, tentacle), tapogatózás (exploratory talk, groping, sounding-out), tapogatódzás (fumbling), tapogató (cirri, cirrus, fringe, horn, palp, palpus, tentacle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | sungut (antenna, moustache, tentacle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | tastatore (contour follower, tracer), sonda (coupling probe, drill, floater that extends deep down into the glass, probe, probe tube, sonde, sound), palpatore (contour follower, tracer), cosa che sente, antenna (aerial, antenna, feelers, handmast, head, horn, pole, probe, scanner, spar, tube). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 触' (antenna), 触手 (tentacle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | しょくしゅ (occupational category, tentacle, type of occupation), しょっかく (antenna, free-loader, house guest, the sense of touch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | ""이. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | loaghteyder (handler), enneyder (antenna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | føler, følehorn (antenna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eelerfay ter pena de (bleed, commiserate), inseto (bug, insect, jack-straw), batedor (bat, batsman, beater, coiner, cylinder, drum, escort, fire beater, fire broom, fire flail, fire swatter, fireflapper, knocker, picker, scout, scutch, scutcher, Stamper, stirrer, swatter, thrasher, threshing drum, tracker, walloper, whisk, willey), apalpador (contour follower, feeling, follower, tracer), antena (aerial, antenna, head, probe, scanner). (various references) tentacul (horn, tentacle, tentaculum), sondare (probe, searching), mustaţã (awn, moustache), informator (delator, informant, informer, intelligencer, nose), cercetaş (explorer, guide, pioneer, scout, spy), balon de încercare, antenã (aerial, antenna, antennae, horn, tentacle). (various references) усик (tendril, tentacle). (various references) probni predlog, pipak (antenna, palp, palpus, tentacle). (various references) tentativa (effort, endeavor, endeavour, gusto, shot, smack, stab, tentative, trial, try, whack), tentáculo (arm, horn, tentacle), sondeo (bore, bore hole, boring, canvass, drill hole, hole, overture, probe, probing, prospecting by borings or trial pits, reconnaissance, sounding, test boring, well), palpador (contour follower, probe, tracer), copiador (contour follower, copier, imitator, tracer), antena (aerial, antenna, antennae, dish, horn). (various references) känselspröt (palp). (various references) ผู้รู้สึก, อวัยวะรับความรู้สึก. (various references) duyarga (antenna, horn, scape), anten (aerial, antenna, horn, scape). (various references) розвідник (agent, scout), щупальце (antenna, palp, palpus, tentacle). (various references) xúc tu (palp), râu sờ, người thăm dò lời thăm dò, người sờ (toucher), người bắt mạch, lời ướm ý. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Modern Latin | 1500-Modern | tentaculum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "feeler": feelers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Feeler" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: eeler, Egeler, feefe, feegle, feelered, feier, feile, felder, fele, Fenelon, Feola, feteler, fetler, feuer, Fielke, Fisler, Freuler, fueller, Fyler, weeler. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "feeler" (pronounced fē"ler) |
| 3 | -ē" l er | dealer, healer, peeler, sealer, spieler, stealer, Wheeler. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: refeel. | |
| Words within the letters "e-e-e-f-l-r" | |
-1 letter: fleer, refel. | |
-2 letters: feel, fere, flee, free, leer, reef, reel. | |
-3 letters: eel, elf, ere, fee, fer, lee, ree, ref. | |
-4 letters: ef, el, er, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-e-e-f-l-r" | |
+1 letter: feebler, feelers, fleecer, fleered, fleeter, refeels. | |
+2 letters: ferreled, fleecers, fleecier, forefeel, reefable, refelled, reflexed, reflexes, refueled, telfered. | |
+3 letters: deerflies, ferrelled, forefeels, freelance, freestyle, freewheel, fullerene, refeeling, referable, reflected, reflexive, refluence, refuelled. | |
+4 letters: beflowered, deferrable, deflowered, deflowerer, efferently, effloresce, enfleurage, farewelled, federalese, federalize, fenderless, flowerette, foreteller, freeholder, freelanced, freelancer, freelances, freeloaded, freeloader, freestyler, freestyles, freewheels, friezelike, fullerenes, greenfield, greenflies, leafleteer, preferable, refiltered, reflective, reflexives, reflowered, refluences, refulgence, revengeful. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)46 65 65 6C 65 72 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)..-. . . .-.. . .-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01100101 01110010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)F e e l e r |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0046 0065 0065 006C 0065 0072 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)407171787184 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Names: Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.