Perception /(pẽr*sĕp"shŭn)/

Per·cep·tion

Perception

n.
  1. The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apprehension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apprehension; 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. (Metaph.)
    Matter hath no life nor perception, and is not conscious of its own existence.
  3. The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility. [Obs.]
    This experiment discovereth perception in plants.
  4. An idea; a notion. [Obs.]