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The act of expounding or of laying open the sense or meaning of an author, or a passage; explanation; interpretation; the sense put upon a passage; a law, or the like, by an interpreter; hence, a work containing explanations or interpretations; a commentary. You know the law; your exposition Hath been most sound. Shak.…

The exposing of a sensitized plate to the action of light.

Exceeding; extreme; keen; -- used in a bad or a good sense; as, exquisite pain or pleasure.

In an exquisite manner or degree; as, lace exquisitely wrought. To a sensitive observer there was something exquisitely painful in it. Hawthorne.

The quality of being manifest to the senses; external acts or appearances; regard for externals. This externalism gave Catholicism a great advantage on all sides. E. Eggleston.

Sight of the eye; the sense of seeing; view; observation. Josephus sets this down from his own eyesight. Bp. Wilkins.

A simple visual organ found in many invertebrates, consisting of pigment cells covering a sensory nerve termination.

Easiness to be persuaded; readiness or compliance; -- usually in a bad sense; pliancy. It is a great error to take facility for good nature. L'Estrange.

Tumult; discord; dissension. They remained at Newbury in great faction among themselves. Clarendon.

Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government or the common good; turbulent; seditious; prone to clamor against public measures or men; -- said of persons. Factious for the house of Lancaster. Shak.

c knack. He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous temperament. Hawthorne.

A vapid or meaningless remark; a commonplace; nonsense.

monplace. [R.] "Passages that are somewhat fade." Jeffrey. His masculine taste gave him a sense of something fade and ludicrous. De Quincey.

Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible; weak; as, a faint color, or sound.

to languish, or become faint. "One color falls away by just degrees, and another rises insensibly." Addison. -- To fall back. (a) To recede or retreat; to give way. (b) To fail of performing a promise or purpose; not to fulfill. -- To fall back upon. (a) (Mil.) To retreat for safety to (a stronger position in the re…

port; renowned; mach talked of; distinguished in story; -- used in either a good or a bad sense, chiefly the former; often followed by for; as, famous for erudition, for eloquence, for military skill; a famous pirate. Famous for a scolding tongue. Shak.

eathered animal; a feathered arrow. Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. Shak. Nonsense feathered with soft and delicate phrases and pointed with pathetic accent. Dr. J. Scott.

A nonsensical exclamation attributed to giants and ogres; hence, any expression calculated to impose upon the timid and ignorant. "Impudent fee-faw-fums." J. H. Newman.

To satisfy; grafity or minister to, as any sense, talent, taste, or desire. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. Shak. Feeding him with the hope of liberty. Knolles.

To perceive by the touch; to take cognizance of by means of the nerves of sensation distributed all over the body, especially by those of the skin; to have sensation excited by contact of (a thing) with the body or limbs. Who feel Those rods of scorpions and those whips of steel. Creecn.