memorable, a. and n.
(ˈmɛmərəb(ə)l)
[ad. L. memorābilis, f. memorāre: see memorate v. and -able. Cf. F. mémorable, Sp. memorable, Pg. memoravel, It. memorabile.]
A. adj.
1. Worthy of remembrance or note; worth remembering; not to be forgotten.
| 1483 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 241/1 The memorable and laudable Acts in diverse Batalls. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xv. 16 b, A succinct description of the yland, and memorable things thereof. 1650 Marvell Horatian Ode 58 He nothing common did or mean, Upon that memorable scene. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 86 ¶3 It is memorable of the mighty Caesar, that when he was murdered in the Capitol..he gathered his Robe about him, that he might fall in a decent Posture. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 40 It hardly contains a memorable line or passage. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iii. v. (1872) I. 163 That is his one feat memorable to me at present. 1895 Law Times C. 3/1 An interesting record of a most memorable and successful innovation in our legal system. |
2. Easy to be remembered. rare.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 53 Witnesse our too much memorable shame. 1658 Phillips, Memorable, easie to be remembred. 1881 Ruskin Love's Meinie I. iii. 99 The easily memorable root ‘dab’, short for dabble. 1882 S. Cox Miracles (1884) 14 Hence it [the Mosaic account of the Creation] must of necessity be concise, simple, memorable. |
3. Awakening memories of. rare.
| 1872 Howells Wedd. Journ. 248 The marshy meadows beyond, memorable of Recollets and Jesuits. |
B. n. pl. = memorabilia. Also (rare) sing.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 470 These memorables of Germany. 1613 Jackson Creed i. xxviii. §1 Recorded..as one of the chiefe memorables in his raigne. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. i. (1852) 251 If no speedy care be taken to preserve the memorables of our first settlement. 1813 Scott Fam. Lett. 13 July, I spent part of Sunday in showing them the Abbey and other memorables. 1823 ― St. Ronan's xxvi. (near end), The other memorable [1830–2 memorabile] is of a more delicate nature, respecting the conduct of a certain fair lady. 1856 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1879) II. 237 These were all the memorables of our visit. |
Hence ˈmemorableness, memorability; ˈmemorably adv., in a memorable manner; so as to be remembered.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Memorableness. 1755 Johnson, Memorably, in a manner worthy of memory. 1832 Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. V. 259 It is well worth the Artist's while to examine for himself what it is that gives such pitiful incidents their memorableness. 1832 ― J. Carlyle 34, I never saw him but once, and then rather memorably. 1885 Manch. Exam. 12 Aug. 3/1 The power of so conceiving characters as to impress us strongly and memorably with their varied individualities. |