palpable, a. (adv.)
(ˈpælpəb(ə)l)
Also 6 -abil, -yble.
[ad. late L. palpābilis (Orosius), f. palpāre: see palp v. and -able. Cf. F. palpable (14–15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
A. adj.
1. a. That can be touched, felt, or handled; apprehensible by the sense of touch; tangible, sensible.
palpable darkness (tenebræ tam densæ ut palpari queant, ‘darkness which may be felt’ Exod. x. 21), thick, gross, utter darkness (a strong figure of speech). In palpable hit, the orig. physical sense often passes into sense 2.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 361 That he may shake hem be the biles, So palpable they shulden be. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 4355 Ferefulst derknesse palpable. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. vii. 39 The Sacrament, signifieth and representeth the same visible, mortall, and palpable bodye of Christe vpon the crosse. 1600 Holland Livy x. xxxii. 375 There chanced to be a foggie mist, which continued a good part of the day, so thick and palpable, as men could not see before them. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 292 A hit, a very palpable hit. a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 59 Such an Object as shall bee palpable now as well as Visible; flesh of our flesh. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek 42 For two whole hours, a palpable darkness prevailed. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 9 Nealed and beaten to a palpable powder. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 18 The stones were palpable enough, carried down by the cataract. |
b. Med. Perceptible by palpation.
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 769 The spleen was not palpable. Ibid. IV. 108 The edge of the liver being palpable. 1974 Nature 22 Mar. 344/2 At 72 and 96 h the lesions were smaller but still palpable. |
2. transf. Readily perceived by some one of the other senses, as the sight, hearing, etc.; perceptible; plainly observable, noticeable, patent.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 206 Merciful Leonard! gracious and benigne! Shew to thy servauntis som palpable sygne. c 1450 Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2568 Evident toknys and signes palpable, Of a fool nyce and varyable. 1659–60 Pepys Diary 6 Jan., Dinner..was very good; only the venison pasty was palpable beef, which was not handsome. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 82 [Eyes of spiders] which indeed are so palpable that they are clearly to be seen by any man that wants not his own. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. vi. 236 What is dancing..but the harmony of motion rendered more palpable? 1819 Byron Juan ii. xcvii, For shore it was, and gradually grew Distinct, and high, and palpable to view. 1880 M. E. Braddon Barbara xxvi. 199 ‘Head's very hot’, said the surgeon, a fact also painfully palpable to the patient. |
3. fig. Easily perceived; open to recognition; plain, evident, apparent, obvious, manifest.
| 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. iv. 61 b, In stormes and derkenes of errours more palpable then in the seruitute of egypt. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 281 The ignoraunce of the world is grosse and palpable. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxv. §15 Opinions of palpable idolatrie. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. xx. (1627) 227 Keeping all in palpable ignorance to be drawne to dumb Idols. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xiv. 440 Should'st thou invent Palpable falsehoods? 1864 Bowen Logic ix. 295 A Circle so palpable as this would, indeed, be committed by no one. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. vi. 559 Rejecting palpable fables and contradictions. |
† B. as adv. = palpably. Obs.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. Ep. Ded., To exclude olde men..[is] palpable erronious. 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. ii. 83 Those who..see them daily with our eyes,..yea..feele them palpable with our hands. |