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Having the faculty or power of laughing; disposed to laugh. Laughing is our busines, . . . it has been made the definition of man that he is risible. Dr. H. More.

The faculty or propensity which impels to reserve, secrecy, or concealment.

Having the faculty of speech but imperfectly developed or partially lost.

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 se…

Having a faculty, or faculties, of sensation and perception. Specif. (Physiol.), especially sensitive; as, the sentient extremities of nerves, which terminate in the various organs or tissues.

The power of seeing; the faculty of vision, or of perceiving objects by the instrumentality of the eyes. Thy sight is young, And thou shalt read when mine begin to dazzle. Shak. O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! Milton.

The sense or faculty by which certain qualities of bodies are perceived through the instrumentally of the olfactory nerves. See Sense.

and, with seeds. Also used figuratively: To scatter over; to besprinkle. The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, . . . and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles. Sir M. Hale. [He] sowed with stars the heaven. Milton. Now morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl. Milton.…

species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet." Sir I. Newton. Wit, . . . the faculty of imagination in the writer, which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of those things which it designs to represent. Dryden.

The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate sounds; the power of speaking. There is none comparable to the variety of instructive expressions by speech, wherewith man alone is endowed for the communication of his thoughts. Holder.

Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech.

Having great force, vigor, power, or the like, as the mind, intellect, or any faculty; as, a man of a strong mind, memory, judgment, or imagination. I was stronger in prophecy than in criticism. Dryden.

To make stupid; to make dull; to blunt the faculty of perception or understanding in; to deprive of sensibility; to make torpid. The fumes of drink discompose and stupefy the brain. South.

especially, such use of language in the expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression. High style, as when that men to kinges write. Chaucer. Style is the dress of thoughts. Chesterfield. Proper words in proper places make the…

Sensitive mental touch; peculiar skill or faculty; nice perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances. He had formed plans not inferior in grandeur and boldness to those of Richelieu, and had carried them into effect with a tact and wariness worthy of Mazarin. Macaul…

city; skill in accomplishing; a special gift, particularly in business, art, or the like; faculty; a use of the word probably originating in the Scripture parable of the talents (Matt. xxv. 14- 30). He is chiefly to be considered in his three different talents, as a critic, a satirist, and a writer of odes. Dryden. His…

The power of perceiving and relishing excellence in human performances; the faculty of discerning beauty, order, congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever constitutes excellence, particularly in the fine arts and belles-letters; critical judgment; discernment.

The act of perceiving or tasting by the organs of taste; the faculty or sense by which we perceive or distinguish savors.

from the air during respiration. See Homoiothermal. -- Temperature sense (Physiol.), the faculty of perceiving cold and warmth, and so of perceiving differences of temperature in external objects. H. N. Martin.

Having the faculty of thought; cogitative; capable of a regular train of ideas; as, man is a thinking being. -- Think"ing*ly, adv.