Noun

(en noun)

(label) One's structure or make-up; form, shape, bodily proportions.

* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , IV.ii:

all the powres of nature, / Which she by art could vse vnto her will, / And to her seruice bind each liuing creature; / Through secret vnderstanding of their feature .

An important or main item.

(label) A long, prominent, article or item in the media, or the department that creates them; frequently used technically to distinguish content from news.

Any of the physical constituents of the face (eyes, nose, etc.).

(label) A beneficial capability of a piece of software.

*

The cast or structure of anything, or of any part of a thing, as of a landscape, a picture, a treaty, or an essay; any marked peculiarity or characteristic; as, one of the features of the landscape.

*

(label) Something discerned from physical evidence that helps define, identify, characterize, and interpret an archeological site.

A feature' of many Central Texas prehistoric archeological sites is a low spreading pile of stones called a rock midden. Other ' features at these sites may include small hearths.

(label) Characteristic forms or shapes of a part. For example, a hole, boss, slot, cut, chamfer, or fillet.

Noun

(obsolete) Suitableness.

(uncountable) The quality or state of being able; capacity to do; capacity of doing something; having the necessary power.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)

, volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title=[http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/01/education-michael-gove-finland-gcse Finland spreads word on schools] , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}

The legal wherewithal to act.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title=[http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21579860-g8-pledges-tackle-three-ts-t-time T time] , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}

(archaic) Financial ability.

(uncountable) A unique power of the mind; a faculty.

* (rfdate) (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)

Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study -

(countable) A skill or competence in doing; mental power; talent; aptitude.

* (rfdate) (King James Bible) , (w) 11:29

Then the disciples, every man according to his ability , determined to send relief unto the brethren.

* (rfdate) (1800-1859)

The public men of England, with much of a peculiar kind of ability

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph

, title=[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/8882713/England-Under-21-5-Iceland-Under-21-0-match-report.html England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report] , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.}}