| 释义 |
navigable, a. and n.|ˈnævɪgəb(ə)l|
[a. F. navigable (14th c.), or ad. L. nāvigābilis, f. nāvigāre: see navigate v.]
A. adj.
1. Admitting of being navigated, affording passage for ships or boats:
a. of the sea.
1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 257 To attempt, if our Seas Northwarde be Nauigable to the Pole or no. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 9 Yf the North sea were not nauigable by reason of extreme cold and Ise. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 151 The sea [yieldeth itself] navigable to everie one that will. 1716Pope Iliad viii. 66 Thence his broad Eye..surveys The Town, and Tents, and navigable Seas.
b. of rivers and other water-ways. (The usual sense). Also const. for.
1530Palsgr. 319/1 Navygable, a water able to be sayled or rowed in, nauigable. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 284 They determyned to brynge a nauigable trench vnto the ryuer of Nilus. 1593Norden Spec. Brit., Cornwall (1728) 98 The towne seateth nere the nauigable Tamar. 1634–5Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 6 A fair navigable river which will carry as great a ship as can sail. 1680Morden Geog. Rect., Germany (1685) 120 Here the Danube begins first to be Navigable. 1735Berkeley Querist §381 The use of slaves in repairing high roads, making rivers navigable. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. iii. I. 24 The plantations have constantly followed either the sea coast or the banks of the navigable rivers. 1835Penny Cycl. III. 176/2 The Avon..is navigable from Stratford for vessels of about 40 tons burden. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 3 At Lechlade..the Thames ceases to be navigable.
†c. Of passage from one place to another. Obs.
1570J. Dee Math. Pref. d iv b, Betwene any two places (in passage Nauigable,) assigned. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii. 60 In this meane while of our nauigable passage, the Captaine..espied a Saile comming from Sea.
2. a. Of ships: Capable of navigation; fit for sailing; seaworthy. rare.
1535in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 74 His Navy was not navigable thowgh he wold have departid thens. 1627Hakewill Apol. (1630) 131 For the better supporting of navigable vessells. 1809N. Pinkney Trav. France 31 Two or three ships..sound, and in the best navigable condition.
b. Of balloons and airships: That may be steered; dirigible. Now Obs. exc. Hist.
1783in S. Stubelius Balloon (1960) 151 We have received a prodigious number of letters relative to the aerostatic machine of Mess. de Montgolfier. Some of these propose methods for rendering this machine truly navigable. 1835Mechanics' Mag. 15 Aug. 374/2 This has been the case with steam-carriages, steam-boats, and other machines, and why should a navigable balloon be excepted? 1887Nature 13 Jan. 260/1 Captain Renard has recently sent in to the French Academy an account of his experiments with his so-called navigable balloon, La France, at Meudon. 1903Edin. Rev. Apr. 334 The first serious attempt to build a navigable balloon was that of Henry Giffard, in 1852. 1907Cornh. Mag. May 611 We shall not go very far wrong if we say that the limits of speed attainable with navigable balloons are not widely different from those attainable in marine navigation. 1908H. G. Wells War in Air ii. 41 There were several navigable gas air-ships, not to mention balloons, in the air.
3. Of places: Admitting the approach or passage of vessels; surrounded by water in which a ship can sail. ? Obs.
1573L. Lloyd Marrow of Hist. (1653) 53 Mount Athos was made of Xerxes navigable, even unto the sea. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vii. (1635) 122 An incomparable great iland.., nauigable round about. 1649Alcoran 413 In Navigation we must know, not only what places are Navigable, but also what are not.
†4. Nautical. Obs. rare.
1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 33 In wch. navigable arte I spent the pryme of myne yeres. 1724Welton 18 Disc. 397 The particular engagements which those of the navigable profession lay under.
†5. Maritime; naval. Obs. rare.
1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 60 It will be a wonderfull thing to see what a..huge Navigable power that State is come too. c1645― Lett. (1650) I. 300 What a mighty navigable power the Hollander is come to.
B. n. A navigable balloon. Cf. dirigible n. Obs. exc. Hist.
1882W. N. Hutchinson in United Service Mag. II. 262 This principle of diminishing buoyancy by diminishing bulk is as applicable to the ordinary balloon..as to the navigable, but..the strain on the material..of the navigable..would be trifling. 1908H. G. Wells War in Air i. 18 They started ironclads, they started submarines, they started navigables. 1933― Shape of Things to Come i. §7. 70 That primitive ‘navigable’ the Zeppelin.
▸ Of terrain or an overland route: able to be traversed, crossable. Also (in later use) of an airspace.
As the verb navigate was used in the 17th and 18th centuries exclusively of vessels (see navigate v.), quots. 1611, 1696 should be regarded as uses with the sense ‘allowing the passage of ships or boats’, as part of a hyperbolic statement.
[1611Bible (A.V.) 2 Macc. v. 21 Hee departed in all haste into Antiochia, weening in his pride to make the land nauigable, and the Sea passable by foot: such was the haughtinesse of his minde.] [1696Cornish Comedy iv. iii. 33 Tis easier to make the high Alps Navigable, or stop the raging motions of the Winds or Seas, than to divert or rather quench my Love.] 1893Harper's Mag. Oct. 668/1 As it rarely happens that any wheeled vehicle invades this region, we seldom find a village with a navigable road traversing it. 1940M. Tornich Radius of Action of Aircraft App. A. 87 Air routes have been established throughout the United States known as the Civil Airways. These are navigable air spaces suitable for intersection or foreign commerce and extending ten miles either side of a line joining the airports included along the route. 2000Ralph 7 July 73/1 It's an absurdly luxurious resort, navigable by walkway, monorail or launch. |