movable, moveable, a. and n.
(ˈmuːvəb(ə)l)
Forms: 4 moeveable, movabele, 4–5 moevable, 5 me(o)veable, mov(ey)abylle, mofabil, 5–6 mevable, 6 movabul, (Sc.) movabil(l, 7 mooveable, Sc. movabell, 5– movable, moveable.
[a. OF. movable, f. mov-oir (mod.F. mouvoir) to move: see -able. Cf. moble, mobile.]
A. adj.
† 1. Apt or disposed to movement; quick or ready in movement; having a tendency to move. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. i. (1495) 381 By cause of his substancyall lyghtnesse ayre is kyndly meuable and also chaungable. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xv. 162 Therfore is ther gret multitude of peple: but thei ben not sterynge ne mevable, be cause that thei ben in the firste Clymat, that is of Saturne. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 12332 And thyderward they [the planets] be meveable, To thylke poynt to kome ageyn, Fro wych they meuede ffyrst certeyn. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 234 Of all the membres of the body, nature hath made the eye moost mouable. 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 83 b, And somtimes her fine and moveable legges..discovered themselves. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 188 Goats are nimble, moveable, and inconstant, and therefore apt to depart away, except they be restrained by the herd and his Dog. 1705 Addison Italy 370 Any one that sees the Teverone must..conclude it to be one of the most moveable Rivers in the World, that has its Stream broken by such a Multitude of Cascades, and is so often shifted out of one Channel into other. |
† 2. fig. Changeable, fickle, inconstant; capable of being influenced or prevailed upon. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. Met. v. 103 (Camb. MS.) The moeuable poeple [orig. mobile vulgus]. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 75 Trust not in eny thingis of this moeuaeble world. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxi. 55 The King was moueable, and therefore it was possible that the Moores would alter his minde. 1611 Bible Prov. v. 6 Her wayes are moueable, that thou canst not know them. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 129 O full of deceit, how movable are thy ways! how often hast thou changed and rechanged. |
3. Capable of being moved; not fixed in one place or posture. Sometimes used Phys. and Path. as a synonym of floating ppl. a., as in movable kidney, movable rib.
| a 1400 in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 65 Þe side of þe quadrat bitwene A and B mote be persede reulefully, in whilk persyng put a chippe like þe oþer thre, bot it sale be moveable fro A to B. 1539 in Archæologia XI. 440, 4 payer of geests of woode dormint, two payer of geests movable. 1553 Eden Decades 360 The degrees of the Equinoctiall distaunte..from the moueable meridian. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xi. §1 In the vast wildernes when the people of God had themselues no settled habitation, yet a moueable tabernacle they were commanded of God to make. 1656 Hobbes's Elem. Philos. (1839) 141 We must also have in our mind an imagination of some moveable thing passing over that line. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 282 He was proposing to me to have a moveable Sty, and about it to make a Yard with Hurdles, to remove from one Tree to another. 1788 Cowper Gratitude 25 This moveable structure of shelves. 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v., When the pivot flank of any body of men describe in the wheel a smaller circle than the wheeling flank, the wheel is said to be made on a moveable pivot. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 346 Some of these cabins were moveable, and were carried on sledges from one part of the common to another. 1835–6 Owen in Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 280/2 If the moveable ribs had commenced as in Mammalia, by extending to the sternum. 1878 tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XV. 763 The clinical history of the movable kidney dates from the time of Rayer. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 23 The upper lid..is very movable, while the lower one is almost stationary. |
4. Of property: Admitting of being removed or displaced; applied to ‘personal’ as opposed to ‘real’ property. In Sc. Law, the distinctive appellation of such property as does not pass by inheritance: opposed to heritable a.
| 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 32 Alle othere meuable Godes ther-in beyng. 1482 Charters Edinb. (1871) 156 Gudis mofabil and vnmofabill. 1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 175 Certen other catell and movable goodes that dyd belong to the howse. 1549 Compl. Scot. xvii. 150 Ane person may succeid to heretage and to mouabil gudis of his predecessours. 1618 Naunton in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 63 Who committed her and her porcion and all her moveable estate unto me at his death. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 71 The right of the husband to the wife's moveable estate, is burdened with the moveable debts contracted by her before marriage. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages vii. (1868) 376 The first eminent instance of a general tax required from the clergy was the famous Saladine tithe; a tenth of all movable estate, imposed by the kings of France and England upon all their subjects..to defray the expense of their intended crusade. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. s.v. Heritable and moveable, Things, in their nature heritable, may become moveable by being made part of a moveable universitas. Thus, a share of heritable subjects, forming part of the stock of a trading company is moveable. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. xvii. (1876) IV. 60 Besides these seizures of landed property William also possessed himself of great moveable wealth from various sources. |
5. Changing from one date to another every year.
movable feast: one which, though always on the same day of the week, varies its date in the calendar.
| 1430 in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 92 Þe table of þe 5 festes moveyabylle. c 1440 Astron. Cal. (MS. Ashm. 391), Than foloweþ a noþer table of all mouable feestes. 1694 Holder Disc. Time i. 20 The Lunar Month..by which the Moveable Festivals of the Christian Church are regulated. 1825 Hone Every-Day Bk. I. 189 Shrove Tuesday regulates most of the moveable feasts. |
| transf. Mod. colloq. Breakfast is a movable feast with us. |
† 6. Astron. (See quot. 1696.) Obs. rare.
| 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. vii. 52 If she [i.e. the moon] be posited therein, especially in a moodable [sic] Signe, it's an argument of much travell, trotting and trudging. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Moveable Signs, the same that are named Cardinal, as Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, as from which the Changes of the Seasons are made in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. |
7. a. Semitic Grammar. Of certain letters, etc.: Pronounced; not ‘quiescent’.
| 1837 G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 33 In the plural Yud quiescent is changed into Yud moveable. 1839 Conant tr. Gesenius' Hebr. Gram. 15 Where they [sc. א, {hebhe}, ו, י] serve as vowels they are called quiescents (quiescentes); where they are consonants, moveable (mobiles). 1847 M{supc}Caul Introd. Hebr. Gram. 9 The Gutturals, when a moveable Sh'va is required, take the compound Sh'va. |
b. Philol. Designating a consonant or other element affixed to a word, usu. under determined phonetic conditions.
| 1933 C. D. Buck Compar. Gram. Greek & Latin 160 The ν movable in forms like λέγουσι(ν), εἶπε(ν), etc., is an added element which, except for a few examples of dat. pl. -σιν in other dialects, is peculiar to Attic-Ionic. 1951 Sturtevant & Hahn Compar. Gram. Hittite Lang. (ed. 2) 66, s Movable. 1958 Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. (rev. ed.) 70 ‘Movable’ s is prefixed in Indo-European to many roots. 1973 A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern Anc. Greek ii. 40 Moveable Nu. This is the name given in traditional studies of Greek to a dental nasal which is inserted at the end of certain words that would otherwise end in a vowel, if the following word begins with a vowel or [h] (that is, with a non-consonantal segment), or if a major pause follows. |
8. movable type: pieces of metal type, individually cast, usu. with reference to early printing.
| [1732 S. Palmer Gen. Hist. Printing 5 With the great space so many Pages of Wood must take up, we shall perceive the necessity of inventing moveable Metal Types.] 1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 2 Those who have asserted that Faust was the first inventor of printing, have given for a reason, that they have never seen any book with Guttemberg's name to it; without considering, that their first essays in printing, both by blocks and moveable types,..were anonymous. 1816 W. Y. Ottley Inquiry Orig. & Early Hist. Engraving I. 6 The prodigious number of these characters..renders it impracticable for them [sc. the Chinese] to print their books with moveable types. 1859 Abridgements of Specifications relating to Printing (Patent Office) 15 Where, when, and by whom printing with moveable types was first practised, it seems impossible to determine with any certainty. 1933 T. S. Barber in W. Atkins Art & Pract. Printing IV. xx. 239 One of the difficulties encountered in actual printing with movable types was the fact that at times they moved and became displaced when the printer had no desire they should. 1955 S. H. Steinberg 500 Yrs. Printing i. 22 The available evidence about the invention of printing with movable types cast from matrices is unfortunately less conclusive than might be wished. 1965 J. Moran Composition of Reading Matter i. 11 The basis of making pieces of movable type was the punch, matrix and mould. 1974 Bertram Rota Ltd. Catal. No. 192. 2 Now the steady advance of film-setting may be heralding the beginning of the end of printing from moveable type. |
B. n.
† 1. In the Ptolemaic astronomy: Any of the nine concentric revolving spheres of the heavens. Chiefly in first movable or highest movable = primum mobile. Obs.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §17 And nota, that firste Moeuyng is cleped ‘Moeuyng’ of the firste Moeuable of the 8 spere. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Irene Wks. (1711) 171 The planets have a motion contrary to the first moveable. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. i. 2 The Figure, Number, and Motion made in the Heavens by the highest Moveable called Primum Mobile. 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 760, I now enter upon their Hypotheses, that suppose it [the Earth] to be mov'd about the Sun. But before the Phaenomena of the secondary Moveables can be explained by this supposition, we must first understand [etc.]. |
2. pl. Personal property; property that is capable of being moved; any species of property not fixed, as distinguished from real or fixed property (as land, houses, etc.). In Sc. and Civil Law, ‘movable’ as distinguished from ‘heritable’ property (see A.4).
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. xiv. 180 (Add. MS.) My sone, I have none mevables that I may yeve to the, But I have iij. Iewelx, that I bequethe to the. 1537 Bury Wills (Camden) 133, I wyll that Margary my wyff haue all my mouables, as corne and catall. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. i. 195 When I am King, clayme thou of me The Earledome of Hereford, and all the moueables Whereof the King, my Brother, was possest. a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 113 These I say are moveables and not of the free-hold. 1766 W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 486 Moveables..is the stock that receives the addition, diminution, or variation. 1884 Law Times Rep. LI. 119/1 The property..as regards movables..is governed by the law of Spain, the country of her domicile. |
3. An article of furniture that may be removed from the building in which it is placed: opposed to fixture. Now chiefly in pl. † Also, a portable object belonging to a person, as an article of clothing, a jewel, a tool, etc. (obs.).
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clv. 187 They shall pay nothyng for that they may spende aboue v.M.li. nor for their mouables. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 198 You were a mouable. Pet. Why, what's a mouable? Kat. A ioyn'd stoole. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iv. i, I..tooke me a house, Dealt with my Iewes, to furnish it with moueables. 1645 Evelyn Diary 5 May, It has in the middle a hall furnish'd with excellent marbles and rare pictures..the moveables are princely and rich. 1685 Sir E. Verney MS. Let. to Son at Oxford June, I will supply you with [money] very shortly but not to lay out in vain moveables. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Moveables, Rings, Watches, Swords, and such Toies of value. As we bit all the Cull's Cole and Moveables, we Won all the Man's Money, Rings, Watches, &c. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 49 ¶7 As capable of being dispos'd of elsewhere, as any other Moveable. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Parasol, a little moveable, in manner of a canopy, bore in the hand to screen the head from the sun, rain, &c. 1820 Byron Let. to Hoppner 20 Jan., I wrote to you..for my movables. 1878 Sir G. G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 328 The movables..are the richest inheritance of the German churches... Besides the more ordinary objects, such as chancel fittings, reredoses, bronze gates [etc.]. |
| fig. 1841 Emerson Misc. (1855) 222 So that a man may say, his religion is now no more within himself, but is become a dividual movable. |
† 4. a. Something capable of being moved or set in motion. Obs.
| 1629 H. Burton Truths Triumph 348 He would remoue this whole terrestriall Globe, if he had but a Ground or Base to fasten his Engine vpon (although the Base must needes be farre bigger than the Moueable). 1656 ? J. Sergeant tr. T. White's Peripat. Inst. 73 If a Moveable be violently struck against a hard resister. 1682 Creech tr. Lucretius i. (1683) 13 This could not be, were there no empty space, Thro which these Moveables might freely pass. |
† b. spec. Any part of the ‘works’ of a watch. Obs.
| 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4599/4 Lost.., a small Gold Watch with a plain Gold Case, the Moveables pretty old. 1779 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 979 What is meant by a pinion in watch-making is that moveable which is set in action by another of a greater number of teeth. |
† 5. A person given to movement or change.
| 1621–2 Laud. Serm. 24 Mar. 35 And this is a great Successe. To haue to doe with the greatest mooueables in the world, the people, and not miscarry. 1632 Marmion Holland's Leaguer i. i, His business Is only to be busy, and his tongue's still walking Though himself be one of the worst moveables. 1658 E. Phillips Myst. Love 175 What is a Tinker? He is a moveable, for he hath no certain abiding. |