Perception

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apperhension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apperhension; cognition.

2. The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man's constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; -- distinguished from conception. Sir W. Hamilton. Matter hath no life nor perception, and is not conscious of its own existence. Bentley.

3. The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility. [Obs.] This experiment discovereth perception in plants. Bacon.

4. An idea; a notion. [Obs.] Sir M. Hale.