| 释义 |
movable, moveable, a. and n.|ˈmuːvəb(ə)l|
Forms: 4 moeveable, movabele, 4–5 moevable, 5 me(o)veable, mov(ey)abylle, mofabil, 5–6 mevable, 6 movabul, (Sc.) movabil(l, 7 mooveable, Sc. movabell, 5– movable, moveable.
[a. OF. movable, f. mov-oir (mod.F. mouvoir) to move: see -able. Cf. moble, mobile.]
A. adj.
†1. Apt or disposed to movement; quick or ready in movement; having a tendency to move. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. i. (1495) 381 By cause of his substancyall lyghtnesse ayre is kyndly meuable and also chaungable. c1400Mandeville (1839) xv. 162 Therfore is ther gret multitude of peple: but thei ben not sterynge ne mevable, be cause that thei ben in the firste Clymat, that is of Saturne. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 12332 And thyderward they [the planets] be meveable, To thylke poynt to kome ageyn, Fro wych they meuede ffyrst certeyn. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 234 Of all the membres of the body, nature hath made the eye moost mouable. 1592R. D. Hypnerotomachia 83 b, And somtimes her fine and moveable legges..discovered themselves. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 188 Goats are nimble, moveable, and inconstant, and therefore apt to depart away, except they be restrained by the herd and his Dog. 1705Addison Italy 370 Any one that sees the Teverone must..conclude it to be one of the most moveable Rivers in the World, that has its Stream broken by such a Multitude of Cascades, and is so often shifted out of one Channel into other.
†2. fig. Changeable, fickle, inconstant; capable of being influenced or prevailed upon. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. Met. v. 103 (Camb. MS.) The moeuable poeple [orig. mobile vulgus]. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 75 Trust not in eny thingis of this moeuaeble world. 1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxi. 55 The King was moueable, and therefore it was possible that the Moores would alter his minde. 1611Bible Prov. v. 6 Her wayes are moueable, that thou canst not know them. 1682Bunyan Holy War 129 O full of deceit, how movable are thy ways! how often hast thou changed and rechanged.
3. Capable of being moved; not fixed in one place or posture. Sometimes used Phys. and Path. as a synonym of floating ppl. a., as in movable kidney, movable rib.
a1400in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 65 Þe side of þe quadrat bitwene A and B mote be persede reulefully, in whilk persyng put a chippe like þe oþer thre, bot it sale be moveable fro A to B. 1539in Archæologia XI. 440, 4 payer of geests of woode dormint, two payer of geests movable. 1553Eden Decades 360 The degrees of the Equinoctiall distaunte..from the moueable meridian. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xi. §1 In the vast wildernes when the people of God had themselues no settled habitation, yet a moueable tabernacle they were commanded of God to make. 1656Hobbes's Elem. Philos. (1839) 141 We must also have in our mind an imagination of some moveable thing passing over that line. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 282 He was proposing to me to have a moveable Sty, and about it to make a Yard with Hurdles, to remove from one Tree to another. 1788Cowper Gratitude 25 This moveable structure of shelves. 1802C. James Milit. Dict. s.v., When the pivot flank of any body of men describe in the wheel a smaller circle than the wheeling flank, the wheel is said to be made on a moveable pivot. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 346 Some of these cabins were moveable, and were carried on sledges from one part of the common to another. 1835–6Owen in Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 280/2 If the moveable ribs had commenced as in Mammalia, by extending to the sternum. 1878tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XV. 763 The clinical history of the movable kidney dates from the time of Rayer. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 23 The upper lid..is very movable, while the lower one is almost stationary.
4. Of property: Admitting of being removed or displaced; applied to ‘personal’ as opposed to ‘real’ property. In Sc. Law, the distinctive appellation of such property as does not pass by inheritance: opposed to heritable a.
1418E.E. Wills (1882) 32 Alle othere meuable Godes ther-in beyng. 1482Charters Edinb. (1871) 156 Gudis mofabil and vnmofabill. 1538in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 175 Certen other catell and movable goodes that dyd belong to the howse. 1549Compl. Scot. xvii. 150 Ane person may succeid to heretage and to mouabil gudis of his predecessours. 1618Naunton in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 63 Who committed her and her porcion and all her moveable estate unto me at his death. 1754Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 71 The right of the husband to the wife's moveable estate, is burdened with the moveable debts contracted by her before marriage. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages vii. (1868) 376 The first eminent instance of a general tax required from the clergy was the famous Saladine tithe; a tenth of all movable estate, imposed by the kings of France and England upon all their subjects..to defray the expense of their intended crusade. 1838W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. s.v. Heritable and moveable, Things, in their nature heritable, may become moveable by being made part of a moveable universitas. Thus, a share of heritable subjects, forming part of the stock of a trading company is moveable. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. xvii. (1876) IV. 60 Besides these seizures of landed property William also possessed himself of great moveable wealth from various sources.
5. Changing from one date to another every year.
movable feast: one which, though always on the same day of the week, varies its date in the calendar.
1430in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 92 Þe table of þe 5 festes moveyabylle. c1440Astron. Cal. (MS. Ashm. 391), Than foloweþ a noþer table of all mouable feestes. 1694Holder Disc. Time i. 20 The Lunar Month..by which the Moveable Festivals of the Christian Church are regulated. 1825Hone Every-Day Bk. I. 189 Shrove Tuesday regulates most of the moveable feasts.
transf. Mod. colloq. Breakfast is a movable feast with us.
†6. Astron. (See quot. 1696.) Obs. rare.
1647Lilly Chr. Astrol. vii. 52 If she [i.e. the moon] be posited therein, especially in a moodable [sic] Signe, it's an argument of much travell, trotting and trudging. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Moveable Signs, the same that are named Cardinal, as Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, as from which the Changes of the Seasons are made in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
7. a. Semitic Grammar. Of certain letters, etc.: Pronounced; not ‘quiescent’.
1837G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 33 In the plural Yud quiescent is changed into Yud moveable. 1839Conant tr. Gesenius' Hebr. Gram. 15 Where they [sc. א, {hebhe}, ו, י] serve as vowels they are called quiescents (quiescentes); where they are consonants, moveable (mobiles). 1847McCaul Introd. Hebr. Gram. 9 The Gutturals, when a moveable Sh'va is required, take the compound Sh'va.
b. Philol. Designating a consonant or other element affixed to a word, usu. under determined phonetic conditions.
1933C. D. Buck Compar. Gram. Greek & Latin 160 The ν movable in forms like λέγουσι(ν), εἶπε(ν), etc., is an added element which, except for a few examples of dat. pl. -σιν in other dialects, is peculiar to Attic-Ionic. 1951Sturtevant & Hahn Compar. Gram. Hittite Lang. (ed. 2) 66, s Movable. 1958Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. (rev. ed.) 70 ‘Movable’ s is prefixed in Indo-European to many roots. 1973A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern Anc. Greek ii. 40 Moveable Nu. This is the name given in traditional studies of Greek to a dental nasal which is inserted at the end of certain words that would otherwise end in a vowel, if the following word begins with a vowel or [h] (that is, with a non-consonantal segment), or if a major pause follows.
8. movable type: pieces of metal type, individually cast, usu. with reference to early printing.
[1732S. Palmer Gen. Hist. Printing 5 With the great space so many Pages of Wood must take up, we shall perceive the necessity of inventing moveable Metal Types.] 1770P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 2 Those who have asserted that Faust was the first inventor of printing, have given for a reason, that they have never seen any book with Guttemberg's name to it; without considering, that their first essays in printing, both by blocks and moveable types,..were anonymous. 1816W. Y. Ottley Inquiry Orig. & Early Hist. Engraving I. 6 The prodigious number of these characters..renders it impracticable for them [sc. the Chinese] to print their books with moveable types. 1859Abridgements of Specifications relating to Printing (Patent Office) 15 Where, when, and by whom printing with moveable types was first practised, it seems impossible to determine with any certainty. 1933T. S. Barber in W. Atkins Art & Pract. Printing IV. xx. 239 One of the difficulties encountered in actual printing with movable types was the fact that at times they moved and became displaced when the printer had no desire they should. 1955S. H. Steinberg 500 Yrs. Printing i. 22 The available evidence about the invention of printing with movable types cast from matrices is unfortunately less conclusive than might be wished. 1965J. Moran Composition of Reading Matter i. 11 The basis of making pieces of movable type was the punch, matrix and mould. 1974Bertram Rota Ltd. Catal. No. 192. 2 Now the steady advance of film-setting may be heralding the beginning of the end of printing from moveable type.
B. n.
†1. In the Ptolemaic astronomy: Any of the nine concentric revolving spheres of the heavens. Chiefly in first movable or highest movable = primum mobile. Obs.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §17 And nota, that firste Moeuyng is cleped ‘Moeuyng’ of the firste Moeuable of the 8 spere. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Irene Wks. (1711) 171 The planets have a motion contrary to the first moveable. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. i. 2 The Figure, Number, and Motion made in the Heavens by the highest Moveable called Primum Mobile. 1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 760, I now enter upon their Hypotheses, that suppose it [the Earth] to be mov'd about the Sun. But before the Phaenomena of the secondary Moveables can be explained by this supposition, we must first understand [etc.].
2. pl. Personal property; property that is capable of being moved; any species of property not fixed, as distinguished from real or fixed property (as land, houses, etc.). In Sc. and Civil Law, ‘movable’ as distinguished from ‘heritable’ property (see A.4).
c1440Gesta Rom. xiv. 180 (Add. MS.) My sone, I have none mevables that I may yeve to the, But I have iij. Iewelx, that I bequethe to the. 1537Bury Wills (Camden) 133, I wyll that Margary my wyff haue all my mouables, as corne and catall. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. i. 195 When I am King, clayme thou of me The Earledome of Hereford, and all the moueables Whereof the King, my Brother, was possest. a1655Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 113 These I say are moveables and not of the free-hold. 1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 486 Moveables..is the stock that receives the addition, diminution, or variation. 1884Law Times Rep. LI. 119/1 The property..as regards movables..is governed by the law of Spain, the country of her domicile.
3. An article of furniture that may be removed from the building in which it is placed: opposed to fixture. Now chiefly in pl. † Also, a portable object belonging to a person, as an article of clothing, a jewel, a tool, etc. (obs.).
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clv. 187 They shall pay nothyng for that they may spende aboue v.M.li. nor for their mouables. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 198 You were a mouable. Pet. Why, what's a mouable? Kat. A ioyn'd stoole. 1605B. Jonson Volpone iv. i, I..tooke me a house, Dealt with my Iewes, to furnish it with moueables. 1645Evelyn Diary 5 May, It has in the middle a hall furnish'd with excellent marbles and rare pictures..the moveables are princely and rich. 1685Sir E. Verney MS. Let. to Son at Oxford June, I will supply you with [money] very shortly but not to lay out in vain moveables. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Moveables, Rings, Watches, Swords, and such Toies of value. As we bit all the Cull's Cole and Moveables, we Won all the Man's Money, Rings, Watches, &c. 1709Steele Tatler No. 49 ⁋7 As capable of being dispos'd of elsewhere, as any other Moveable. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Parasol, a little moveable, in manner of a canopy, bore in the hand to screen the head from the sun, rain, &c. 1820Byron Let. to Hoppner 20 Jan., I wrote to you..for my movables. 1878Sir G. G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 328 The movables..are the richest inheritance of the German churches... Besides the more ordinary objects, such as chancel fittings, reredoses, bronze gates [etc.].
fig.1841Emerson Misc. (1855) 222 So that a man may say, his religion is now no more within himself, but is become a dividual movable.
†4.
a. Something capable of being moved or set in motion. Obs.
1629H. Burton Truths Triumph 348 He would remoue this whole terrestriall Globe, if he had but a Ground or Base to fasten his Engine vpon (although the Base must needes be farre bigger than the Moueable). 1656? J. Sergeant tr. T. White's Peripat. Inst. 73 If a Moveable be violently struck against a hard resister. 1682Creech tr. Lucretius i. (1683) 13 This could not be, were there no empty space, Thro which these Moveables might freely pass.
†b. spec. Any part of the ‘works’ of a watch. Obs.
1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4599/4 Lost.., a small Gold Watch with a plain Gold Case, the Moveables pretty old. 1779Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 979 What is meant by a pinion in watch-making is that moveable which is set in action by another of a greater number of teeth.
†5. A person given to movement or change.
1621–2Laud. Serm. 24 Mar. 35 And this is a great Successe. To haue to doe with the greatest mooueables in the world, the people, and not miscarry. 1632Marmion Holland's Leaguer i. i, His business Is only to be busy, and his tongue's still walking Though himself be one of the worst moveables. 1658E. Phillips Myst. Love 175 What is a Tinker? He is a moveable, for he hath no certain abiding. |