Word Finder - feeler

definition

Someone or something that feels.

example

Are you more of a feeler or more of a thinker?

definition

An antenna or appendage used for feeling, especially on an insect.

definition

Something ventured to test another's feelings, opinion, or position.

example

I sent out some feelers but they didn't seem interested.

A second ramus, the " exopodite," often is also retained in the form of a palp or feeler.

The real nail-biter is when the pad fails to grip the feeler at all!

Such obvious features as the number of segments in the foot and the shape of the feeler were used by the early entomologists for distinguishing the great groups of beetles.

The Passalidae are a tropical family of beetles generally considered to be intermediate between stag-beetles and chafers, the enlarged segments of the feeler being capable of close approximation.

Fielde show that an ant follows her own old track by a scent exercised by the tenth segment of the feeler, recognizes other inmates of her nest by a sense of smell resident in the eleventh segment, is guided to the eggs, maggots and pupae, which she has to tend, by sensation through the eighth and ninth segments, and appreciates the general smell of the nest itself by means of organs in the twelfth segment.

An ear of another type is found in the swollen second segment of the feeler in many male gnats and midges, the cuticle between this segment and the third forming an annular drum which is connected with numerous nerveendings, while the fine bristles on the more distal segments vibrate in response to the note produced by the humming of the female.

It is said that 13,000 such olfactory organs are present on the feeler of a wasp, and 40,000 on the complex antennae of a male cockchafer.

The broad head carries, in addition to the prominent compound eyes, three simple eyes (ocelli) on the crown, while the feeler consists of a stout basal segment, followed by five slender segments.

If he were serious, it can only be said that the desperation of his circumstances had momentarily troubled the lucidity of his understanding; if the pamphlet were merely intended as a feeler after public opinion, it is surprising that he did not perceive how irretrievably he was ruining his friends in the eyes of all moderate men.

They have eleven segments to the feeler, which is clubbed at the tip, and apparently three segments only in each foot.

The families Psyllidae (or " jumpers ") with eight or ten segments in the feeler and the Aleyrodidae (or " snowyflies ") distinguished by their white mealy wings, are of comparatively slight importance.