n. [ OE. fe, feh, feoh, cattle, property, money, fief, AS. feoh cattle, property, money; the senses of “property, money, ” arising from cattle being used in early times as a medium of exchange or payment, property chiefly consisting of cattle; akin to OS. fehu cattle, property, D. vee cattle, OHG. fihu, fehu, G. vieh, Icel. fē cattle, property, money, Goth. faíhu, L. pecus cattle, pecunia property, money, Skr. paçu cattle, perh. orig., “a fastened or tethered animal, ” from a root signifying to bind, and perh. akin to E. fang, fair, a.; cf. OF. fie, flu, feu, fleu, fief, F. fief, from German, of the same origin. the sense fief is due to the French. √249. Cf. Feud, Fief, Fellow, Pecuniary. ] 1. property; possession; tenure. “Laden with rich fee.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Reward or compensation for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge; pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

To plead for love deserves more fee than hate. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Feud. Law) A right to the use of a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Eng. Law) An estate of inheritance supposed to be held either mediately or immediately from the sovereign, and absolutely vested in the owner. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. An absolute fee, or fee simple, is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple. In modern writers, by fee is usually meant fee simple. A limited fee may be a qualified or base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; or a conditional fee, or fee tail, which is limited to particular heirs. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Amer. Law) An estate of inheritance belonging to the owner, and transmissible to his heirs, absolutely and simply, without condition attached to the tenure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fee estate (Eng. Law), land or tenements held in fee in consideration or some acknowledgment or service rendered to the lord. --
Fee farm (Law), land held of another in fee, in consideration of an annual rent, without homage, fealty, or any other service than that mentioned in the feoffment; an estate in fee simple, subject to a perpetual rent. Blackstone. --
Fee farm rent (Eng. Law), a perpetual rent reserved upon a conveyance in fee simple. --
Fee fund (Scot. Law), certain court dues out of which the clerks and other court officers are paid. --
Fee simple (Law), an absolute fee; a fee without conditions or limits. [ 1913 Webster ] Buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. Shak. --
Fee tail (Law), an estate of inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs. Burill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Feed p. pr. & vb. n. Feeing. ] To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe. [ 1913 Webster ]

The patient . . . fees the doctor. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

There's not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant feed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Feebler superl. Feeblest ] [ OE. feble, OF. feble, flebe, floibe, floible, foible, F. faible, L. flebilis to be wept over, lamentable, wretched, fr. flere to weep. Cf. Foible. ] 1. Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated. [ 1913 Webster ]

Carried all the feeble of them upon asses. 2 Chron. xxviii. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Wanting force, vigor, or efficiency in action or expression; not full, loud, bright, strong, rapid, etc.; faint; as, a feeble color; feeble motion. “A lady's feeble voice.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make feble; to enfeeble. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Shall that victorious hand be feebled here? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Weak in intellectual power; wanting firmness or constancy; irresolute; vacillating; imbecile. “comfort the feeble-minded.” 1 Thess. v. 14.

-- Fee"ble-mind"ed*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. severe mental deficiency.
Syn. -- amentia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The quality or condition of being feeble; debility; infirmity. [ 1913 Webster ]

That shakes for age and feebleness. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a feeble manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

The restored church . . . contended feebly, and with half a heart. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fed p. pr. & vb. n. Feeding. ] [ AS. fēdan, fr. fōda food; akin to OS. fōdian, OFries. fēda, fōda, D. voeden, OHG. fuottan, Icel. fæða, Sw. föda, Dan. föde. √75. See Food. ] 1. To give food to; to supply with nourishment; to satisfy the physical huger of. [ 1913 Webster ]

If thine enemy hunger, feed him. Rom. xii. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unreasonable creatures feed their young. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To satisfy; gratify or minister to, as any sense, talent, taste, or desire. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Feeding him with the hope of liberty. Knolles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To fill the wants of; to supply with that which is used or wasted; as, springs feed ponds; the hopper feeds the mill; to feed a furnace with coal. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To nourish, in a general sense; to foster, strengthen, develop, and guard. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou shalt feed my people Israel. 2 Sam. v. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mightiest powers by deepest calms are fed. B. Cornwall. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle; as, if grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

Once in three years feed your mowing lands. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To give for food, especially to animals; to furnish for consumption; as, to feed out turnips to the cows; to feed water to a steam boiler. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mach.) (a) To supply (the material to be operated upon) to a machine; as, to feed paper to a printing press. (b) To produce progressive operation upon or with (as in wood and metal working machines, so that the work moves to the cutting tool, or the tool to the work). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To take food; to eat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her kid . . . which I afterwards killed because it would not feed. De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To subject by eating; to satisfy the appetite; to feed one's self (upon something); to prey; -- with on or upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be nourished, strengthened, or satisfied, as if by food. “He feeds upon the cooling shade.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To place cattle to feed; to pasture; to graze. [ 1913 Webster ]

If a man . . . shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field. Ex. xxii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]