The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Experience \Ex*pe"ri*ence\ ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*ens), n. [F.
   exp['e]rience, L. experientia, tr. experiens, experientis, p.
   pr. of experiri, expertus, to try; ex out + the root of
   peritus experienced. See Peril, and cf. Expert.]
   1. Trial, as a test or experiment. [Obs.]
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            She caused him to make experience
            Upon wild beasts.                     --Spenser.
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   2. The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced by any
      event, whether witnessed or participated in; personal and
      direct impressions as contrasted with description or
      fancies; personal acquaintance; actual enjoyment or
      suffering. "Guided by other's experiences." --Shak.
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            I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and
            that is the lamp of experience.       --P. Henry
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            To most men experience is like the stern lights of a
            ship, which illumine only the track it has passed.
                                                  --Coleridge.
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            When the consuls . . . came in . . . they knew soon
            by experience how slenderly guarded against danger
            the majesty of rulers is where force is wanting.
                                                  --Holland.
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            Those that undertook the religion of our Savior upon
            his preaching, had no experience of it. --Sharp.
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   3. An act of knowledge, one or more, by which single facts or
      general truths are ascertained; experimental or inductive
      knowledge; hence, implying skill, facility, or practical
      wisdom gained by personal knowledge, feeling or action;
      as, a king without experience of war.
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            Whence hath the mind all the materials of reason and
            knowledge? To this I answer in one word, from
            experience.                           --Locke.
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            Experience may be acquired in two ways; either,
            first by noticing facts without any attempt to
            influence the frequency of their occurrence or to
            vary the circumstances under which they occur; this
            is observation; or, secondly, by putting in action
            causes or agents over which we have control, and
            purposely varying their combinations, and noticing
            what effects take place; this is experiment. --Sir
                                                  J. Herschel.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Experience \Ex*pe"ri*ence\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Experienced
   ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*enst); p. pr. & vb. n. Experiencing
   ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*en*s[i^]ng).]
   1. To make practical acquaintance with; to try personally; to
      prove by use or trial; to have trial of; to have the lot
      or fortune of; to have befall one; to be affected by; to
      feel; as, to experience pain or pleasure; to experience
      poverty; to experience a change of views.
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            The partial failure and disappointment which he had
            experienced in India.                 --Thirwall.
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   2. To exercise; to train by practice.
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            The youthful sailors thus with early care
            Their arms experience, and for sea prepare. --Harte.
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   To experience religion (Theol.), to become a convert to the
      doctrines of Christianity; to yield to the power of
      religious truth.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

experience
    n 1: the accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from
         direct participation in events or activities; "a man of
         experience"; "experience is the best teacher" [ant:
         inexperience, rawness]
    2: the content of direct observation or participation in an
       event; "he had a religious experience"; "he recalled the
       experience vividly"
    3: an event as apprehended; "a surprising experience"; "that
       painful experience certainly got our attention"
    v 1: go or live through; "We had many trials to go through"; "he
         saw action in Viet Nam" [syn: experience, see, go
         through]
    2: have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or
       sensations; "I know the feeling!"; "have you ever known
       hunger?"; "I have lived a kind of hell when I was a drug
       addict"; "The holocaust survivors have lived a nightmare"; "I
       lived through two divorces" [syn: know, experience,
       live]
    3: go through (mental or physical states or experiences); "get
       an idea"; "experience vertigo"; "get nauseous"; "receive
       injuries"; "have a feeling" [syn: experience, receive,
       have, get]
    4: undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of
       mind; "She felt resentful"; "He felt regret" [syn: feel,
       experience]
    5: undergo; "The stocks had a fast run-up" [syn: have,
       experience]

The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

EXPERIENCE, n.  The wisdom that enables us to recognize as an
undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced.

    To one who, journeying through night and fog,
    Is mired neck-deep in an unwholesome bog,
    Experience, like the rising of the dawn,
    Reveals the path that he should not have gone.
                                                        Joel Frad Bink