Sense (sns), 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.