treatable, a.
(ˈtriːtəb(ə)l)
Forms: 4–7 tretable, (5 treteable, tretabill, -ylle, 6 -yl), 5– treatable.
[ME. tretable, a. F. traitable (13th c. in Godef.):—L. tractābilem: see tractable. In some senses f. treat v. + -able.]
1. a. Easily handled or dealt with; tractable, manageable, docile; open to appeal or argument, ‘easy to be entreated’, affable. (Of persons, etc. or their attributes.) Obs. or arch.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1992 Makayre ioyed þat þey were..so tretable; He þankeþ God þat he haþ founde So mylde wymmen yn wedlak bounde. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶584 Man is a quik þing by nature and tretable to goodnesse. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) x. v. 376/2 Yf he be meke & tretable, gyue hym [horse] a smothe brydel. 1578 Chr. Prayers in Priv. Prayers (Parker Soc.) 489 Thou..art treatable and mild,..thou shewest mercy unto thousands. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety xvii. ¶10 Suffer themselves to cool into a treatable temper. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. ii. ii. (1737) I. 238 Those arts, by which the people were render'd more treatable in a way of reason and understanding. 1888 Doughty Arabia Deserta I. 583 Nasr..had showed himself more treatable since the others' departure. |
b. Of things: Tractable; yielding to treatment, as a disease; flexible or ductile, as a metal. Obs. exc. in Med.
| 1340 Ayenb. 94 God..huanne he nhesseþ þe herte, and makeþ zuete and tretable, ase wex ymered, and ase land guod and agrayþed. Ibid. 167 Gold..þe more hit is ine uere: þe more hit is clene and clyer and tretable. c 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 27 Considere þe lech bisily, þe wounde..if it be wele tretable and with-out hardnes. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. ii. xi. 45 Yf the canker be tretable in the begynnynge,..and in suche parte of the bodye, that it maye seme possible to be rooted uppe. 1974 E. Ambler Dr. Frigo ii. 141 Muscular dystrophy..is to some extent treatable and controllable. 1978 Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Feb. 29 Heart disease and strokes are related to..potentially treatable but undetected hypertension. |
† c. Of or in reference to actions, etc.: Gentle, easy, moderate, deliberate, not violent. Obs.
| c 1430 Stans Puer 78 in Babees Bk. (1868) 31 Be soft in mesure, not hasti, but treteable. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xlvi. §1 Somewhat there is why a vertuous minde should rather wish to depart this world with a kinde of treatable dissolution, then to bee suddainely cut off. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 15 (1619) 536 Doctrine may be ponderous and waightie, where the speach is calme and treatable, stil waters often runne the deepest. 1690 Temple Misc. ii. Gard. Epicurus Wks. 1731 I. 182 In France, and the Low-Countries..the Heats or the Colds, and Changes of Seasons, are less treatable than they are with us. |
† d. Of utterance: Deliberate; distinct, clear, intelligible. Obs.
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 55 To abyde vpon the tretable sayng of theyre seruyce, be yt neuer so werysom. 1561 Bp. Parkhurst Injunct. A iv, Whether the parsons..doth reade the common seruice with a lowde, distinct, and treatable voyce. 1632 G. Herbert Country Parson vi, [The parson's] voyce is humble, his words treatable and slow. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. Pref., Wks. 1851 III. 147 All these things with a solid and treatable smoothnesse to paint out and describe. |
† 2. Capable of being handled or touched, tangible; exposed to touch. Obs. rare.
| 1382 Wyclif Heb. xii. 18 Ȝe han not come to the tretable fyer [1388 the fier able to be touchid], and able to come to. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. H iij, What woundes of the bely are moste peryllous and moste dyfficyle to heale?.. They in the myddes of the bely bycause the partyes there ben more treatable. |
3. Capable of being or proper to be treated or dealt with.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 2/42 There be many other [adjs.] in able, deriued of Englishe verbes,..as..Treatable, worthy or able to be treated upon. 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 614 More liable to the rigour of Martiall law and treatable as a greater enemy. 1741 Warburton Div. Legat. II. 44 Treatable by the common Rules of Art. 1833 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Barrenness Imag. Faculty, From the moment that Sancho loses his reverence, Don Quixote is become a—treatable lunatic. |
Hence ˈtreatableness, the quality of being treatable; † in quots., tractability, docility; clearness of utterance; mildness of disposition.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 144 b, In dede iustyce, in workes mercy, in maners discyplyne & tretablenes. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. i. x. 21 To..furnysh it with Elegance of termes & picked wordes:..to vtter it with comely gesture..for the conuenient treatablenesse thereof, doth teache and plainly declare the thing. 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 410 He commended the Wisdom of the present Vizier, his Humanity and Treatableness. |