recoverable, a.
(rɪˈkʌvərəb(ə)l)
[f. recover v.1 + -able.]
1. a. Capable of being recovered or regained.
| c 1470 G. Ashby Active Policy 684, I mene..of wilfulnesse people to supprise, That micht otherwise be recouerable. 1483 Cath. Angl. 301/1 Recouerabille, recuperabilis. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Recuperable, recouerable. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. iv. xxxvii. (1713) 393 They in a short time may be recoverable to the obedience of the See of Rome. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2044/2 The Cannon, some whereof are mounted, and others sunk, though easily recoverable. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) III. xxi. 195 As giving it up for recoverable, I became for a few moments motionless. 1805 W. Saunders Min. Waters 428 When again cooled, the smell is no longer recoverable. 1885 Manch. Exam. 26 Aug. 3/2 The publication of every recoverable sentence that fell from his lips or his pen. 1952 F. H. Norris Paper & Paper Making xiv. 222 Water derived from boiler washings and the rag washers is not recoverable. 1964 N. Chomsky Current Issues in Linguistic Theory ii. 41 A deleted element is, therefore, always recoverable. 1974 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics XIX. 147 It is clear that not every instance of the operation of vowel deletion in Canadian French results in a recoverable vowel. |
b. Capable of being legally recovered or obtained.
| 1590 Swinburne Treat. Testaments 15 Legacies..are all at this present recouerable by like actions. a 1674 Clarendon (J.), They promised the good people ease in the matter of protections, by which the debts from parliament men and their followers were not recoverable. 1736 Neal Hist. Purit. III. 494 That there may be a fixed maintenance in every parish recoverable by the incumbent. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 471 A pecuniary penalty, recoverable on summary conviction by a justice of the peace. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 112 That mere debts should not be recoverable by law. |
c. Designating mineral reserves which by reason of their location and purity may be extracted economically.
| 1950 E. Ayres in L. M. Fanning Our Oil Resources vii. 234 The oil-shale regions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming..contain the bulk of recoverable shale oils as well as the bulk of total shale oils. 1959 D. L. Katz et al. Handbk. Natural Gas Engin. xi. 462/2 The initial gas content [of a natural reservoir] minus the content at a selected abandonment pressure gives the recoverable gas. 1973 E. N. Tiratsoo Oilfields of World xii. 336 Those volumes of hydrocarbons technically recoverable, to a high degree of certainty, but the exploitation of which is deemed uneconomic. 1976 Conservation of Resources (Chem. Soc.) 20 So far we have used up some 16% of total possible recoverable oil reserves, and only about 4% in the case of coal. 1979 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 May 14/4 The world's recoverable coal reserves are several times those of oil. |
2. a. Capable of being restored to a sound, healthy, or normal condition.
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 646/2 Having nowe both sowle and bodye greatly diseased, yet both recoverable. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. iii. 70 'Tis one thing to dispute, Whether all Diseases be curable; and another, Whether all Persons be recoverable. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 652 That it is peculiar to the Thames-water alone, upon Stinking to be recoverable or potable again. 1707–12 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 241 The Earth is to be opened to the bottom to find its Distemper; and if the Root be..hard, 'tis recoverable by applying dry Sand and Soot to it. 1774 Cullen Lett. to Ld. Cathcart (1776) 4 Drowned persons are more generally in a recoverable state than has been imagined. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. lvi, Her remorse was the precious sign of a recoverable nature. |
b. That may be amended; curable.
| 1616 A. Champney Voc. Bps. 1 By how much more the error or deceit in them, is more hurtfull and lesse recouerable. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 240 If you would know..whether the sicknesse or disease be curable and recoverable. 1899 J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. X. 136 It is not more easily recoverable without treatment than is syphilis. 1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Sept. 759/1 It was realized that many severe mental disturbances were more recoverable than had previously been supposed. |
c. Capable of being retrieved or made good.
| 1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) V. 158 Like vice also, the first lapse was seldom..recoverable. 1833 Landor Imag. Conv., Sciplo, Polybius, & Panætius Wks. 1876 II. 327 Has the name escaped me! no matter,..he would smile at a recoverable lapse. 1848 J. Spedding Even. w. Reviewer (1881) II. 36 Considering that..a stumble at the threshold [is] scarcely recoverable. |
† 3. Capable of being retraced. Obs.—1
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. iv. 13 A Prodigall course Is like the Sunnes, but not like his recouerable. |
Hence reˈcoverableness, the possibility of recovering or of being recovered.
| 1609 W. Sclater Threefold Preserv. (1610) B j, Recouerablenesse in the elect, instability of reprobates. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. v. xviii. 275 As may appear by the recoverablenesse of the metal out of it. 1892 H. Drummond Programme Chr. 43 The recoverableness of a man at his worst. |