audible, a. and n.
(ˈɔːdɪb(ə)l)
[ad. med.L. audībilis, f. audīre to hear: see -ble.]
A. adj.
1. Able to be heard, perceptible to the ear.
| 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1259/1 The ioyes of heauen are..to mans eares not audible. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 266 Eve..with audible lament Discover'd soon the place of her retire. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 229, I had rather have their silent Prayers, than their audible ones. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf. T. xi. 110, I tried to speak twice without making myself distinctly audible. |
† 2. Able to hear. Obs. rare.
| 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 120 The minde is nothing so tentible at a good instruction, nor the eare so audible, as at a vaine and sportiue foolerie. |
B. n. [the adj. used absol.] A thing capable of being heard.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §269 The species of audibles seem to be carried more manifestly through the air than the species of visibles. 1794 Taylor Plotinus xxix, The auditory sense knows audibles. |