curable, a.
(ˈkjʊərəb(ə)l)
[ad. L. cūrābilis, f. cūrāre to cure: perh. through F. curable (14th c. in Littré).]
1. Capable of being cured; fig. amendable, remediable.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lviii. (1495) 272 In xl dayes it is curable. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 185 Ulcera..summe ben curable & summe ben incurable. c 1460 Play Sacram. 31 He can telle yf yow be curable. 1592 W. Perkins Cases Consc. (1619) 159 Enemies of God and his truth, are also of two sorts, either Curable or Incurable. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 107 ¶2 Evils are much more curable in their Beginnings. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t., Spir. Partizanship, Of that they are curable like any occasional disorder. |
† 2. Disposed to cure; able to cure. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 315/3 My brother Fyre be thow to me in this houre debonayre and curable. 1584 Whetstone Mirror Ep. A iij b, A Physition..may applie a curable Medicine for a hidden Disease. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. iii. 174 (D.) The water..retaining a curable vertue against all diseases. |
Hence † ˈcurableness, curability.
| a 1691 Boyle Wks. II. 110 (R.) The arguments..for the curableness of all diseases, are not very cogent. 1727 in Bailey vol. II. |