sensible, a. (and n.)
(ˈsɛnsɪb(ə)l)
Also 4–6 sencyble, sensyble, 5 sensibill, -yll, censible, 6 sensybul, sensibil, 6–7 sencible, (sensable, 8 senceible).
[a. F. sensible, ad. late L. sensibilis, f. sens- (:—*sentt-), ppl. stem of sentīre to perceive, feel: see -ible. Cf. Sp. sensible, Pg. sensivel, It. sensibile.]
A. adj. I. That can be felt or perceived.
1. a. Perceptible by the senses. (In Philos., opposed to intelligible 3: in this use now rare.).
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. iv. (1868) 165 For it [intelligence] knoweþ þe vniuersite of resoun and þe figure of þe ymaginacioun and þe sensible material conseiued. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 302 Cristis religion telliþ lityl bi siche sensible habitis [of religious orders], but now takiþ oon & now an oþer as dide crist on good fryday. Ibid. 341 Iche good sensible dede þat we don..may be callid a sacrament. 1434–5 Misyn Fire of Love 2 When I felt fyrst my hert wax warme, and treuly, not ymagynyngly, bot als it wer with sensibyll fyer, byrned. 1534 [see intelligible 3]. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 165 The gudnes of God (wych only therby mouyd made thys sensybul world). 1631 Widdowes Nat. Philos. 7 Fixed are the starres of the firmament, whose motion is not sensible. 1638 [see intelligible 3]. 1670 R. Coke Disc. Trade Ded., Carnal copulation, killing another, and taking from another, are sensible Actions, and cannot be defined: but Murder, Justice, Adultery, Theft, &c. may be defined..but can never be perceived by the sences. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. ii. §1 The Use then of Words is to be sensible Marks of Ideas. 1704 Norris Ideal World ii. iv. 271 By sensible objects, I mean those objects which the understanding has a perception of by the mediation of the senses. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments (1735) 261 Taste and other sensible Qualities. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 2 The other sensible appearances of earths. 1805 T. Weaver tr. Werner's Ext. Charac. Fossils 1 External characters..are also called Sensible Characters, the use of our senses being sufficient for their discovery. 1805 Wordsw. Prel. xiv. 106 In a world of life they live By sensible impressions not enthralled. 1851 Westcott Introd. Study Gosp. vi. (ed. 5) 333 St. Matthew alone notices..the earthquake, the sensible ministry of the divine messenger. 1865 Grote Plato I. i. 10 Some primordial and fundamental nature, by and out of which the sensible universe was built up and produced. 1880 J. Milne in Trans. Seismol. Soc. Japan I. ii. 53 The earthquake of which we write had certainly a radius over which it was sensible of 120 miles. |
b. Const. to.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 36 Art thou not, fatall Vision, sensible To feeling, as to sight? or art thou but A Dagger of the Minde. 1733 Arbuthnot Ess. Effects Air i. 1 Air is sensible to the Touch by its Motion, and by its Resistance to Bodies moved in it. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. i. (1878) 36 All of earth and sky that..is sensible to us. |
c. Specific collocations in scientific use. sensible horizon: see horizon 1. sensible heat († sensible caloric): used in contradistinction to latent heat: see heat n. 2 c. sensible perspiration: sweat as distinguished from the emission of vapour through the pores.
| 1642 Sensible horizon [see rational a. 5 b]. 1764 J. Ferguson Lect. 156 The sensible horizon is that circle..where the heaven and earth seem to meet. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 335 The sensible caloric of adjacent bodies is incessantly employed in maintaining each others equilibrium of temperature. 1830 Knox tr. Béclard's Anat. 152 The cutaneous perspiration, whether sensible or insensible, is to be considered as one of the most important secretions of the organic structure. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 444 Heat..perceived by the touch and measured by the thermometer, which is called sensible heat. |
† d. Of or pertaining to the senses or sensation.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. i. 57, I might not this beleeue Without the sensible and true auouch Of mine owne eyes. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. ii. §3 (1622) 200 As it is in naturall appetites: so is it, in sensible appetites too. 1793 Beddoes Math. Evid. 7, I will subjoin an instance which perhaps may give the reader an idea how the pronouns arise, and what is their primary sensible signification. |
† e. quasi-adv. Perceptibly. Obs.
| 1590 Swinburne Testaments 167 Although his childe did neuer crie, so that it did sensible breath or moue. |
2. Perceptible by the mind or the inward feelings.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 100 This waie is so well, as I perceiue no sensible fault in it. 1701 Stanley's Hist. Philos. Biog. 11 He affirms that it bears sensible marks of its Newness. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. Pref. 13 The visible and sensible connexion of sacred and profane history. 1782 J. Brown View Nat. & Rev. Relig. v. v. 498 Sensible assurance of God's love. 1854 C. Hodge Comm. Rom. vii. 201 Conversion is a great change, sensible to him that experiences it, and visible to others. 1875 Manning Mission Holy Ghost iv. 104 But the love of God does not mean..the sensible love which we feel towards human friends. |
3. Easy to perceive, evident.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (Sommer) 319 Their smart being more sensible to others eyes, then to their owne feeling. 1604 T. Wright Passions v. §2. 166 In some musick there is to be noted a manifest loose effeminatenesse: and the experience is so sensible, that it were superfluous to proceed any farther in proofe. 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Sensible, easily felt or perceiued. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. v. §8 These are too sensible proofs to be doubted. 1692 ― Let. to Molyneux Lett. (1708) 10 We had here..a very sensible earthquake. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. vi. vii. 78 In this present Evil World, it is no Wonder that the Operations of the Evil Angels are more sensible than of the Good ones. 1736 Butler Anal. i. v. 125 Under the more immediate, or if such an expression may be used, the more sensible government of God. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 57 It..is most of all sensible and apparent in a new country. 1816 P. Cleaveland Min. 539 It yields a white smoke and a very sensible odor of garlic. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic vi. (1833) 142 A tremulous and perfectly transparent vapour was particularly sensible and profuse. 1853 Phillips Rivers Yorks. v. 150 The warming influence of the sea air begins to be very sensible in October. |
4. Large enough to be perceived or to be worth considering; appreciable, considerable. Now only of immaterial things (as quantities, magnitudes, etc.).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. cv. (1495) 849 And though a moughte be a sencyble beest: yet he hydeth hymselfe wythin the clothe that vneth he is seen. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. xx. (1588) 619 If our Gaoles in Englande were more often swept and emptied, I doubt not, but that wee also should finde a sensible profite to arise thereby. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. vii. 196 We could discover no sensible difference in weight. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 116 A very sensible Distance Eastward. 1792 Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 340 You will perceive that the Indian War calls for sensible exertions. 1825 Q. Jrnl. Sci., etc. XVIII. 398 It re-dissolves, especially if the muriatic acid added be in sensible excess. 1843 Portlock Geol. 215 Both contain a sensible amount of Strontian. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. i. 4 A fine mud, composed of particles of sensible magnitude. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 33/2 Epicycloidal cams described as follows..may be used without any sensible error. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark iii. xv. 436 [It will] effect a sensible reduction in these figures. |
† 5. Of discourse, etc.: Easily understood; suited to make a strong impression on the mind; striking, effective. Obs.
| c 1530 Cox Rhet. (1899) 42 To be techars of goddes worde in suche maner as maye be moste sensible and accepte to their audience. 1558 Bonner in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 2041/1 It doth appeare vnto me thou art of a good memorie & of a very sensible talke, but something ouerhastie. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 100 He..therefore imployed thereunto a fitte, sensible, and caulme kinde of speaking and writing. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 219 b, That as her wordes did paint out her minde, so they serued as a shadow, to make the picture more liuely and sensible. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exp. To Rdr., Wherefore he judges it an Undertaking worthy of his great Mind to confront with the most Accurate, and sensible Experiments, the force of their Assertions. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 22 If such a Tube be bent, the Experiment will be much more sensible. 1744 Harris Three Treat. Wks. (1841) 40 The ideas, therefore, of poetry, must needs make the most sensible impression, when the affections, peculiar to them, are already excited by the music. |
| quasi-adv. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 68, I shall endeavour to explain my meaning a little more sensible by a Scheme. |
† 6. Such as is acutely felt; markedly painful or pleasurable. Const. to. Obs.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1678 My woe too sencible thy passion maketh More feeling painfull. 1598 Yong Diana 63, I felt so sensible griefe, to see my selfe forgotten of him, who had so great reason to loue me, and whom I did loue so much. 1640 tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. iii. ix. 34 The fall of this young Prince..was so sensible to the Emperour, that had he not feared the anger of Brustafard..the Jousts had been at an end. 1655 Terry Voy. E. India iv. 122 Scorpions..whose stinging is most sensible, and deadly. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. §136 This very sensible mortification transported him so much, that [etc.]. 1711 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 184 His..death proved very sensible to the languishing King. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) II. lvii. 148 [The King] can inflict a punishment highly sensible to them, by not inviting them to the amusements of the Court. 1796 Pegge Anonym. 445 The circumambient air, when a man is so hot within, is very sensible to him, and..makes him chill, and liable to colds. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe ix, The time and place prevented his receiving..more sensible marks of his master's resentment. |
II. Capable of feeling or perceiving.
7. Endowed with the faculty of sensation. † a. Of living beings, their nature or mode of existence.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. iv. (1868) 166 A man is ymaginable and sensible. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxi. xi. II. 423 That spunges have life, yea and a sensible life, I have prooved heretofore. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 536 A tree..hauing..on each side of the leafe, as it were, two feete with which (as if it had bin mouing and sensible) it would stirre and go vp and down. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. i. i. 528 Loue..extends and shewes it selfe in vegitall and sensible creatures. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. (1677) 39 That Sensible Natures should enjoy a life of Sense. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. i. i. §1 It is the Understanding that sets Man above the rest of sensible Beings. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 79 Can it be possible for any sensible Beings to endure that Intensity of Cold, and live? |
b. of organs, tissues, or parts of the body.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 24 From þe brayn comen .vij. peire cordes & þei ben clepid sensible senewis. Ibid. 28 Þe skyn..is maad of smale þredis of veynes, senewis, & arteries, þat makiþ him censible, & ȝeueþ him liȝf & worchinge. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health xcvii. 38 A tothe is a sencyble bone, the whiche beynge in a lyvyng mans heade hath felynge. 1831 Youatt Horse (1843) 378 Between the coffin-bone and the horny sole is situated the sensible sole. 1849 Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 234 The pain is of a sharper kind on those sensible parts of the body included in the circuit, which are on the negative side of the pile. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. v. (1859) 69 Outside of the sensible skin. |
† c. sensible virtue, sensible wit, later sensible faculty, sensible capacity: faculty of sensation. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xii. (1495) 55 The vertue sensyble that meuyth is departed on thre, One partye hyghte Naturalis, and the other Vitalis, and the other Animalis. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 716 Whiche vertu namyd ys sensible, And is, as y reherse kan, Yove to beste and eke to man. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. vi. §2 Beasts are in sensible capacitie as ripe euen as men themselues, perhaps more ripe. |
| erroneous use. c 1400 Beryn 2621 Wherfor wee must, with al our wit sensibill Such answers vs purvey, þat þey been insolibil. |
† 8. a. Having (more or less) acute power of sensation; sensitive. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 205 Whose blessed flesshe was moost tender sensible and lyuely. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. ii. ii. 16 After the digestyve, ye must clense the place wyth a mundificatyve of syrupe of Roses, cheyfelye whan the aposteme is aboute very sensible places. 1600 Surflet Country Farm ii. xlvi. 299 The stomacke being easie and inclined to vomit, as hauing a verie sensible orifice. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 174 These Gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble Lungs, that they alwayes vse to laugh at nothing. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 54 An imposition which I cannot believe how he that values time, and his own studies, or is but of a sensible nostrill should be able to endure. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 54 A Woman comes to me sorely afflicted a long time in all her limbs..; the woman I perceived was exceeding sensible, and in most grievous extremity cryed out. 1679 G. R. tr. Boaistuau's Theat. World ii. 318 A Faggot burning hot, applyed to the most sensible parts about him. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 324 The Flesh at the Bottom of the Wound was very sensible. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. iii, Physicians tell us of a disorder, in which the whole body is so exquisitely sensible, that the slightest touch gives pain. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 45 Parts, which in the sound state have little or no sensibility, become exquisitely sensible in the inflamed. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic ix. (1833) 229 The human ear is so extremely sensible as to be capable of appreciating sounds which arise from about twenty-four thousand vibrations in a second. |
| fig. phrase. 1705 Hearne Collect. 14 Sept. (O.H.S.) I. 44 Who have touch'd 'em in y⊇ sensible p{supt} by..making Scotch men Aliens. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 416 And, to touch the King in a sensible point, he said, the covenant stuck so deep in their hearts, that no good could be done till that was rooted out. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India III. vi. i. 46 The dignity of the Directors was now touched in a most sensible part. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xv, He had alarmed his fears in a most sensible point. |
† b. Liable to be quickly or acutely affected by (some object of sensation); sensitive to or of. Obs.
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. iii. 18 Yet his Hand, Not sensible of fire, remain'd vnscorch'd. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. II. 169 Dogs are well known to be very sensible of different tones in music. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. 1787 IV. 90 Extremely sensible of cold. 1822–29 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) I. 51 The gum is often extremely sensible. Ibid. IV. 202 Albinoes..are painfully sensible to light. |
9. Capable of or liable to mental emotion. † a. Having sensibility; capable of delicate or tender feeling. Obs.
| 1675 R. Burthogge Causa Dei 13 A person of a tender, sensible and compassionate Temper. 1734 Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 182 Preserve your Conscience always soft and sensible. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones v. vi, Thus his backwardness..wrought so violently on her sensible and tender heart, that she soon felt for him all those gentle sensations which are consistent with a virtuous and elevated female mind. 1760 Sterne Serm. III. 405 St. Peter certainly was of a warm and sensible nature. |
† b. Sensitive; easily hurt or offended. Obs.
| 1759 Chesterfield Lett. IV. ccclv. 170 You will say..that if a person is born of a very sensible gloomy temper..they cannot help it. 1792 Gouv. Morris Diary & Lett. (1889) II. 3 These [titles] should be properly placed, you know, because monarchs are very sensible on that subject. |
c. Sensitive or readily accessible to some specified emotional influence. Also const. of. Now rare.
| 1791 Boswell Johnson an. 1734, Johnson had, from his early youth, been sensible to the influence of female charms. 1845 Graves Rom. Law in Encycl. Metrop. II. 738/2 The Roman mind seems to have been always sensible to the claims of justice. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 450 Work was to be done, however, which could be trusted to no man who reverenced law or was sensible of shame. Ibid. vi. II. 65 Even Sunderland, though not very sensible to shame, flinched from the infamy of public apostasy. |
10. transf. a. Of material things or substances, esp. of instruments of measurement, as a balance, a thermometer: Readily affected by physical impressions or influences, sensitive. Const. to. Now rare.
Also in † sensible plant, sensible weed = sensitive plant, where the adj. has, strictly speaking, sense 8, the movements of the plant having been formerly regarded as evidence of real sensation.
| 1661 Feltham Resolves ii. xxiv. (ed. 8) 231 Like the sensible plant, when the hand of flesh does touch it, she shrinks in all her leaves. 1678 Locke Let. to Boyle in Bourne Life (1876) I. 399 A very sensible hygrometer. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. 5 The Third [thermometer]..is more sensible, and swifter near four times. 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 58 Sensible Grass. It is so very sensible that..I have on horseback wrote my name with a rod in a spot of it which continued visible for some time. 1742 Burgess in Phil. Trans. XLII. 4 The Antidote is, the Root of the Sensible Weed, as it is commonly called, or Herba Sensitiva. 1769 E. Bancroft Guiana 225 From the Sensible Plant to the scarce vegetable Moss, all are exquisitely adapted. 1819 J. G. Children Chem. Anal. 372 This balance is sensible to the 1/100dth part of a grain when loaded with 1000 grains in each pan. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. xxxi. 330 This instrument [the galvanometer] is rendered much more sensible by neutralizing the effects of the earth's magnetism on the needle. 1835–41 Brande Man. Chem. 72 Nitrate of mercury is a prevaricating test, but very sensible to a variety of substances that may exist in mineral waters. |
† b. Music. sensible note. [tr. F. note sensible.] = leading note (see leading ppl. a.). Cf. sensitive. Obs.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 521/1 This third major, which with the generator forms a semitone, has for that reason been called the sensible note, as introducing the generator. 1801 Busby Dict. Mus., Sensible, the appellation given to the sharp seventh of any key. 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 965 The first note..has the effect of that which our musicians call sensible. 1830 Examiner 340/2 (Review of Drouet's Method of Flute-Playing) [Condemns the term as not English]. |
III. Actually perceiving or feeling.
11. a. Cognizant, conscious, aware of something. Often with some tinge of emotional sense: Cognizant of something as a ground for pleasure or regret. Const. of, † to; also with clause. Now somewhat rare.
| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1566 Art þou oght, sone myn, sensible In whiche cas þat þou oghtest the for-bere, And in whiche nat? 1625 Bacon Ess., Great Place (Arb.) 293 Be not too sensible, or too remembring, of thy Place, in Conuersation. Ibid., Greatn. Kingd. (Arb.) 481 Nay, it seemeth at this instant, they [the Spaniards] are sensible of this want of Natiues. 1662 J. Davies Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 200 The Birds, which were not yet sensible of the Cold,..continued their Chirping and Singing till near the middle of December. 1666–7 Pepys Diary 14 Feb., Which shows how little we are sensible of the weight of the business upon us. 1676 Temple Let. to Sir J. Williamson 12 June, I went to Monsieur Mauregnault, and made him sensible, how all these Exceptions of the Resident were expresly provided against. 1683 Tryon Way to Health (1697) 92 The learned Prophet Moses was sensible that the common and frequent eating of Flesh was very dangerous. 1699 Bentley Phal. 309, I am sensible how long I have detain'd the Reader upon this Subject. a 1700 Evelyn Diary June 1645, I think I was never sensible of so burning a heate as I was this season. 1700 Dryden Sigism. & Guisc. 270 The gloomy Sire, too sensible of Wrong To vent his Rage in Words. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 209, I am very sensible that I deserve none of those Favours. 1721 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar (1893) I. 452, I would have you then..try to make the wretch sensible of the truth of what I advance. 1739 Sheridan tr. Persius' Sat. iv. 63 You will soon be sensible how short your Abilities are. 1741–2 Challoner Missionary Priests (1803) II. 18 The catholics were made sensible that, however the persecution might in some measure be abated, it was not to cease. 1744 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Oxford 13 Apr. (1893) II. 129 My health..is extremely good; I thank God I am sensible of no distemper or infirmity. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. 466 If these salts and oils actually fly off from it in such quantities, as to make us sensible of them by smell. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia vii. iii, Cecilia, sensible of the truth of this speech,..now summoned her utmost courage to her aid. 1806 R. Cumberland Mem. (1807) II. 160, I was not sensible to the extent of my danger. 1813 T. Busby Lucretius I. i. Comm. p. xxxvi, [Lucretius] sensible to the difficulty of the subject on which he is engaged. 1819 Byron Juan i. cli, That sublime of rascals, your attorney, Whom I see standing there, and looking sensible Of having play'd the fool. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Grace bef. Meat, We may be gratefully sensible of the deliciousness of some kinds of food beyond others. 1825 Scott Betrothed ii, He was sensible that the alliance which he meditated might indeed be tolerated, but could not be approved, by his subjects. 1837 Hallam Lit. Eur. I. i. iii. 168, I am sensible that the mention of such a circumstance may appear trifling. |
† b. Mindful of a person. Obs.
| 1643 Chas. I in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 309 The perticuler persons whoe in this our extremity are soe sensible of us. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells Ded. 2 b, As we usually are more sensible of our enemyes than our friends. |
12. a. Emotionally conscious; having a pleasurable, painful, grateful or resentful sense of something. In later use almost exclusively: Gratefully conscious of (kindness, etc.). Also const. to (? obs.), † for, and with clause.
| 1634 W. Tirwhyt Balzac's Lett. I. 26 They stood amazed to see a servant..Who was as sensible of the least evils of his country as of his proper sorrows. 1656 Bramhall Replic. 11 God seemeth to be more sensible of the injuries done unto his church and to his servants, then of the dishonor done unto himself. 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 74 His Pleasures require a larger Proportion of Excess and Variety, to render him sensible of them. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 166 ¶8 He found that he was so very sensible of his Fault, and so sincerely repented of it. 1715 Hickes Let. to Hearne (MS. Rawl. Lett. f. 15) 75, I am as sensible & sorry for the great Loss of Mr. Urry, as any Friend he hath left behind him. 1775 Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) III. 108 Lady Carlisle desires to be remembered to you; she is, indeed, very sensible of your goodness to us all. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxvi, He was sensible to the indignity of serving with his noblest peers under the banners of his own vassal. 1831 ― Ct. Rob. xvi, The creature seemed sensible of the clemency. 1856 Carlyle Let. to J. Knight 19 Apr., Surely I am very sensible to the kindness of the President and Council in this matter. 1895 N. Amer. Rev. Aug. 149 They are always sensible to kindness and sympathy. |
† b. Without const. Obs.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) III. 62, I kissed her, and she made me a courtesy for my condescension; and blushed, and seemed sensible all over. |
13. Conscious, free from physical insensibility or delirium.
| 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. ix. 283 The governor was not yet sensible. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 32 Where we saw Mr. Cozens..alive, and to Appearance sensible, but speechless. 1835 Comic Almanack (1870) 2 Nurse. Speak softly, Sir; my master's turning blue, He's not been sensible since last November. Rig. Fun. (aside) Nor ever was, that I can remember. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. iii. vi, ‘And now the doctor says he has not many hours to live.’ ‘I am sorry to hear it,’ cried William. ‘Is he sensible?’ 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xiii, He's asking for you and is quiet and sensible. |
IV. 14. a. Endowed with good sense; intelligent, reasonable, judicious.
Stigmatized by Johnson 1755 as used only ‘in low conversation’. In some of the early instances the sense may perh. be rather ‘capable of mental perception’.
| 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. viii. (1886) 40 If they were sensible, they would saie to the divell: Whie should I hearken to you? 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 111 These (the more sensible they are with whom wee deale, and of greater capacity) the more vehemently may we enforce by all sorts of forcible arguments. 1596 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 151 'Twas a good sensible fellow. 1597 ― 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 220 For the boxe of th'eare that the Prince gaue you, he gaue it like a rude Prince, and you tooke it like a sensible Lord. 1598 W. Phillip tr. Linschoten i. xlvi. 85 In the Island of Seylon there are also great numbers [of Elephants], which are esteemed the best and sensiblest of all the worlde. c 1600 Bacon Elem. Com. Laws (1630) Pref. B 3 b, And that Ciuilians, States-men, Schollers, and other sensible men might not haue beene barred from them. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 130 ¶3 Sir Roger..knew several sensible People who believed these Gypsies now and then foretold very strange things. 1747 H. Walpole Let. to Mann 1 Sept., You will, I think, like Sir James Grey; he is very civil and good-humoured, and sensible. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxxi, My loveliest, my most sensible of girls. 1768 Sir P. Francis Let. 26 Apr. Mem. (1867) I. 210 The woman..is honest and intelligent, or in the cant word, sensible. 1781 Cowper Convers. 193 A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me, and no other can. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 97 He was too sensible a man not to know that he might at some future time be called to a serious account by a parliament. 1860 Proc. Zool. Soc. 184 It [a young female Gorilla] was tame, lively, sensible, and not near so noisy or dirty as a Chimpanzee. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 9 ‘They're all glad to get a husband; even the sensiblest of them’, chuckled the farmer. 1885 O. W. Holmes Mortal Antipathy iv. (1886) 65 No sensible person in Arrowhead village really believed in the evil eye. |
b. Of action, behaviour, discourse, etc.: Marked by, exhibiting, or proceeding from good sense.
| 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. i. xiii. (1662) 126 The manner of this Genius his sensible Converse. a 1699 Temple On Health & Long Life Wks. 1720 I. 277 He had been a Soldier in the Cales Voyage..of which He gave me a sensible Account. 1778 F. Burney Diary Sept., She has a sensible and penetrating countenance. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 362 A very sensible paper, on the use of lime. 1822 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Some Old Actors, His rebuke to the knight and his sottish revellers, is sensible and spirited. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 221 note, The most sensible thing said in the House of Commons, on this subject, came from Sir William Coventry. |
| Comb. 1895 J. G. Millais Breath Veldt (1899) 116 Oom Paul's mode of government is entirely unpopular amongst the more sensible-minded Dutch. |
c. Of clothing, footwear, etc.: practical rather than attractive or fashionable.
| 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xii. 146 Margaret was busy embroidering a small piece of cambric... Mrs. Thornton..liked Mrs. Dale's double knitting far better; that was sensible of its kind. 1888 Kipling Under Deodars 8 Nice, large, sensible shoes for all couples to stumble over as they go into the verandah! 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 339/3 The ‘Sensible’ carrier bag..is the only paper Bag with a firm bottom. 1924 A. Christie Man in Brown Suit xx. 169 Forty, if she's a day, wears pince-nez and sensible boots and an air of brisk efficiency that will be the death of me. 1944 Auden For Time Being ii. 36 The river on this side of which initiative and honesty stroll arm in arm wearing sensible clothes. 1959 Observer 22 Mar. 1/1 Chintz curtains and no-nonsense bundles of flowers in sensible pots. 1978 R. Hill Pinch of Snuff x. 100 Genuine English county..unobtrusively elegant..in simple twinset and sensible shoes. |
B. absol. and n.
1. That which produces sensation; that which is perceptible; an object of sense, or of any one of the senses.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 269 This louely conformitie..betweene the sence and the sensible hath nature..most carefully obserued in all her owne workes. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. Plato iv. (1687) 160/2 In Sensibiles (saith Plato) neither magnitude nor quality is permanent. 1665 Glanvill Scepsis Sci. ix. 50 A blind man conceives not colours, but under the notion of some other sensible. a 1704 T. Brown London & Lacedem. Oracles Wks. 1730 III. 131 By Phenomena's we understand Sensibles, which we oppose to Intelligibles. 1788 T. Taylor Proclus I. 44 note, All the ancient theologists..affirmed that the soul was of a certain middle nature and condition between intelligibles and sensibles. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 54 Those..who think they can storm the Intelligible by the Sensible. |
† 2. A being that is capable of sensation. Obs.
| a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. (1677) 17 The Life that is in Vegetables..; the Life and Sense that is in Sensibles. 1682 Creech Lucretius Notes (1683) 33 This agrees to Plants as well as Sensibles, They are nourisht grow and live alike. |
† 3. The element (in a spiritual being) that is capable of feeling. Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 278 Our torments also may in length of time Become our Elements,..our temper chang'd Into their temper; which must needs remove The sensible of pain. |
4. One possessing good sense, a judicious person.
| 1747 W. Horsley Fool (1748) II. 323 The Sensibles are desired to confine theirs to Masquerades and Playhouses. |
5. the sensibles, sensible views of things. nonce-use.
| 1880 Blackmore Mary Anerley xli, After the sensitive age was past, and when the sensibles ought to reign,..he fell..into a violent passion of love for a beautiful Jewish maid barely turned seventeen. |