amiableadj.n.

Brit.

/ˈeɪmɪəbl/, U.S.

/ˈeɪmiəb(ə)l/

Forms: Middle English ameabill, Middle English amiabul, Middle English amyabil, Middle English amyabill, Middle English–1500s amyable, Middle English– amiable, 1500s aimeable, 1600s– aimiable (now nonstandard); Scottish pre-1700 amiabil, pre-1700 amiabill, pre-1700 amiabyll, pre-1700 amyabil, pre-1700 amyabill, pre-1700 amyable, pre-1700 1700s– amiable; N.E.D. (1884) also records a form Middle English aimiable.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman ameable, Anglo-Norman and Middle French amiable (French amiable ) worthy of being loved, lovable, lovely, loved, liked, friendly, kind (11th cent. in Old French) < classical Latin amīcābilis amicable adj.; the semantic development of the French word was probably influenced by association with Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French amable amable adj.

A. adj.

†1. Worthy of being loved, lovable; lovely.In later use passing into sense A. 3.

a. Of a person or God. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > quality of being lovable > [adjective]

lieflyOE

lovesomeOE

lovelyOE

leesomec1200

loveful?c1225

love-worthc1225

loveworthya1250

amiablea1375

lovablec1422

amorousa1425

amable1492

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 586 (MED) Þat amiabul maide alisaundrine a-hiȝt.

a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 10 (MED) A full gentill squyer..right amyable, whome the Kyng entierly loved as his owne sone.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Judith x. 4 She was exceadinge amyable and welfauoured in all mens eyes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iv. 59 While she kept it, T'would make her amiable, and subdue my father.

a1656 Bp. J. Hall Invisible World (1659) ii. vi. 116 The infinitely amiable and glorious Deity.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 162. ¶4 We..are amiable or odious in the Eyes of our great Judge.

1817 Port Folio Dec. 459 He had married a woman of some beauty..; and (what made her appear still more amiable in his eyes) she had brought him a fortune more than adequate to his expectations.

1905 A. Urban Teachers' Handbk. Biblical Hist. lx. 306 We must love God with all the powers and capabilities of our soul, because He is the supreme and most amiable God.

b. Of a thing. Obsolete.Later use of amiable dwelling is probably in allusion to Psalm 83:1 (King James Version): cf. quot. 1535.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > [adjective]

winsomea900

sweetc900

likingeOE

i-quemec950

lieflyOE

winlyOE

hereOE

thankfulc1000

merryOE

queemc1175

beina1200

willea1200

leesomec1200

savouryc1225

estea1250

i-wilc1275

winc1275

welcomea1300

doucea1350

well-pleasingc1350

acceptablea1382

pleasablea1382

pleasanta1382

pleaseda1382

acceptedc1384

amiablec1384

well-likinga1387

queemfulc1390

flattering1393

pleasinga1398

well-queeminga1400

comelyc1400

farrandc1400

greable1401

goodlyc1405

amicable?a1425

placablec1429

amene1433

winful1438

listyc1440

dulcet1445

agreeablec1450

favourousc1485

sweetly?a1500

pleasureful?c1502

dulcea1513

grate1523

prettya1529

plausible1541

jolly1549

dulcoratec1550

toothsome1551

pleasurable1557

tickling1558

suavec1560

amenous1567

odoriferous?1575

perfumed1580

glada1586

tickle1593

pleasurous1595

favoursome1601

dulcean1606

gratifying1611

Hyblaean1614

gratulatea1616

arrident1616

solacefula1618

pleasantable1619

placid1628

contentsome1632

sapid1640

canny1643

gustful1647

peramene1657

pergrateful1657

tastefula1659

complacent1660

placentiousa1661

gratifactorya1665

bland1667

suavious1669

palatable1683

placent1683

complaisant1710

nice1747

tasty1796

sweetsome1799

titbit1820

connate1836

cunning1843

mooi1850

gemütlich1852

sympathique1859

congenial1878

sympathetic1900

sipid1908

onkus1910

sympathisch1911

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Amos v. 11 Ȝe shuln plante most amyable [L. amantissimas] vyne ȝerdis.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 156 Gode blode is..pure in odour and amiable [?c1425 Paris louesome; L. amicabilis] in sapour.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxxiii. 1 How amiable [a1382 Wycliffite, E.V. looued; 1611 amiable] are thy dwellinges, thou Lorde of hoostes?

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. xcvi. 138 Of savour and smell more amiable or pleasant.

1655 J. Howell 4th Vol. Familiar Lett. xxxvi. 85 They keep their Churches so cleanly and Amiable.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 513 It was no amiable thing to be a Province to Spain.

1722 R. Steele Conscious Lovers (1755) ii. i. 35 To tear his amiable Image from my Heart.

1821 W. Hazlitt Table-talk I. ii. 28 Even the colours with which the painter had adorned her hair were not more golden, more amiable to sight, than those which played round and tantalised my fancy ere I saw the picture.

1867 M. Arnold Heine's Grave in New Poems 197 This amiable home of the dead.

1925 E. F. Benson Mother iii. 85 It..seemed a terribly amiable dwelling.

†2. Chiefly in regard to behaviour or attitude towards others: friendly, kindly.In later use passing into sense A. 3.

a. Of a person. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective]

holdc893

friendOE

fellowly?c1225

couthlyc1275

friendfulc1379

amiablea1382

commonc1384

queema1400

lovely1409

acquaintablea1425

familiarc1425

great1483

friendlikea1500

towardly15..

amicable1532

friendable1569

amical1580

graceful?1593

accostable1611

amicous1676

lovable1691

clever1758

unchilled1794

tosh1821

mately1822

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Prov. xviii. 24 A man amyable [L. vir amicalis] to felashipe mor a frend shal be, than a brother.

?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. vi. l. 1662 Amyable fortune with hir flaterynges draweth mys wandrynge men fro the souereyne good.

a1492 W. Caxton tr. Vitas Patrum (1495) i. xix. f. xxii/1 One namyd Phylemon, whyche was moche amyable & debonayr to the peple.

a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) viii. l. 2344 Gud nychtbure, And amyabil, he trowit, compositoure.

1568 T. Hacket tr. A. Thevet New Found Worlde lxxvi. f. 123^v The people of that countrey is as obediente, and as amiable as is possible.

1655 F. G. tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Artamenes V. ix. iii. 148 Whether she be merry or serious, she is alwayes equally amiable to all her friends.

1687 tr. C. Gobinet Instr. Youth in Christian Piety iv. xvii. 355 Accustom your self to consider all Men as your Brethren, and in this Quality to desire Good to all of them. Be meek and amiable to all.

b. Of speech, behaviour, etc. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > (of words or conduct) friendly

smoothc1400

amiablec1405

goodlyc1405

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §12 W^t amyable wordes hir to reconforte.

c1460 J. Lydgate Praise of Peace l. 51 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 787 Froward cheerys pees makith amyable.

1537 in R. W. Ingram Rec. Early Eng. Drama: Coventry (1981) 145 In consideracion & recompense of which Aimeable surrender & gifte.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 226 Lay an amiable siege to the honesty of this Fords wife.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 459. ¶12 Giving us more amiable Ideas of the Supreme Being.

1797 M. Noble Mem. House Medici xviii. 356 One of the first transactions that marked his approaching manhood, was his amiable behaviour towards Carlo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 602 The rebels..proceeded to Wells, and arrived there in no amiable temper.

3. Chiefly in regard to disposition or mood, or the actions associated with such a disposition or mood: characterized by friendliness; having or characteristic of a friendly and pleasant nature or character, good-natured; affable, sociable.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > and worthy

amiable1749

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. iii. vii. 196 The amiable Temper of Pity.

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. vi. 122 That amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public.

1816 G. Crabb Eng. Synonymes 74 An amiable disposition, without a lovely person, will render a person beloved. It is distressing to see any one who is lovely in person to be unamiable in character.

1859 Economist 5 June 624/1 A shrewd observation and some humour are shown in the sketches of the neighbouring families, and of the kind-hearted, amiable dunce of the Wyecombe family.

1896 L. Becke Ebbing of Tide 242 He..asked the mate, in an amiable tone of voice, if he had ‘any (ruddy) noospapers from Sydney’.

1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xix. 210 ‘You'd think I ought to let Anne go to the moon if she took the notion, I've no doubt,’ was Marilla's amiable rejoinder.

1968 E. Wilson Jrnl. June in Sixties: Last Jrnl. (1993) 717 Paul Horgan read a little éloge, and we exchanged some amiable kidding.

2011 N.Y. Mag. 28 Mar. 54/2 A classic Irish pub with amiable, be-paunched bartenders.

4. Originally and chiefly U.S. Well-disposed, favourably inclined to (also towards) an immaterial thing.

ΚΠ

1875 W. D. Howells Foregone Concl. v. 72 That foreign eccentricity to which their nation is so amiable.

1914 R. P. Walton Names, Dates, & Numbers ix. 45 If we desire musical success, let us endeavor to be amiable to the musical currents and not antagonistic.

1921 Oregon Voter 17 Dec. 31 The present bus and truck operators are..amiable toward the proposal to regulate them.

2002 D. L. Hart Year of Rat vii. 42 Andy appeared to be amiable to the idea.

B. n.

colloquial. to do (also make, play, etc.) the amiable: to behave amiably; to engage in pleasant conversation. Cf. do v. 19b. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1811 Lit. Panorama July 93 At Brighton—a ball at the castle..saw her—sweet, sickly, smiling, gay, young, and awkward..introduced—made the amiable, talked as much nonsense as would fill a novel.

1824 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 342 My lady, who has..to do the amiable at her humdrum rows.

1831 M. M. Sherwood Roxobel III. iv. 77 When a family is suffering under severe distress, it is certainly revolting to see a member of the household endeavouring to play the amiable, and to shew off her supposed sensibilities.

1854 L. H. de Bonelli Trav. Bolivia I. 28 The young gentlemen of our party began to buck up and tried to outvie each other in doing the amiable.

1879 K. E. Stantial tr. J. von Dewall Marriage Tie viii. 143 Cousin Thaddeus soon began to play the amiable to the blooming Mélanie.

1954 Minnesota Hist. 37 141/2 The officers ‘do the amiable’ as well as they can amid the rush of the representatives of the Atlantic shores.

Compounds

C1. With present participles, forming adjectives in which amiable expresses the complement of the underlying verb, as in amiable-looking, amiable-seeming, etc., adjs.

ΚΠ

1815 Statesman 14 Dec.‘do the amiable’ Pretending..a wish to know her with the professed disposition to serve her, by getting her, or giving her, a better employment, as ‘a neat, modest, amiable-looking girl’.

1851 W. Howitt Madam Dorrington of Dene II. iii. 42 Crime, astonishing, motiveless, staring forth from the most lovely and amiable-seeming forms.

1938 Country Life 17 Dec. p. xliv/1 A few days ago at a dinner-party I felt greatly enraged against a pleasant-looking, amiable-seeming, twinkling-eyed man sitting opposite me at table.

1991 N.Y. Times Mag. 29 Dec. 17/4 This particular group includes a soft-spoken, London-based Saudi journalist..and an amiable-looking Algerian hippie with a Rastafarian-style hairdo.

C2.

amiable number n. either of a pair of numbers, each of which equals the sum of all the factors of the other, excluding the number itself; = amicable number n. at amicable adj. Compounds.The smallest pair of amiable numbers is 220 and 284.

ΚΠ

1721 E. Hatton Intire Syst. Arithm. Introd. 2 Amiable Numbers, are 2 such, as that the Sum of the Aliquot Parts of one, will make up the other Number alternately.

1817 T. Leybourn Math. Questions II. 10 Mr. Stone's theorem, in his Mathematical Dictionary, for finding amiable numbers, is erroneous.

1998 A. W. Binks et al. Fund. Math. for Caribbean (new ed.) III. 283/1 Sum of factors of 220 = 284 and sum of factors of 284 = 220; 220 and 284 are amiable numbers.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	amiable
释义	amiableadj.n. Brit. /ˈeɪmɪəbl/, U.S. /ˈeɪmiəb(ə)l/ Forms: Middle English ameabill, Middle English amiabul, Middle English amyabil, Middle English amyabill, Middle English–1500s amyable, Middle English– amiable, 1500s aimeable, 1600s– aimiable (now nonstandard); Scottish pre-1700 amiabil, pre-1700 amiabill, pre-1700 amiabyll, pre-1700 amyabil, pre-1700 amyabill, pre-1700 amyable, pre-1700 1700s– amiable; N.E.D. (1884) also records a form Middle English aimiable. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman ameable, Anglo-Norman and Middle French amiable (French amiable ) worthy of being loved, lovable, lovely, loved, liked, friendly, kind (11th cent. in Old French) < classical Latin amīcābilis amicable adj.; the semantic development of the French word was probably influenced by association with Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French amable amable adj. A. adj. †1. Worthy of being loved, lovable; lovely.In later use passing into sense A. 3. a. Of a person or God. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > quality of being lovable > [adjective] lieflyOE lovesomeOE lovelyOE leesomec1200 loveful?c1225 love-worthc1225 loveworthya1250 amiablea1375 lovablec1422 amorousa1425 amable1492 a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 586 (MED) Þat amiabul maide alisaundrine a-hiȝt. a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 10 (MED) A full gentill squyer..right amyable, whome the Kyng entierly loved as his owne sone. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Judith x. 4 She was exceadinge amyable and welfauoured in all mens eyes. a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iv. 59 While she kept it, T'would make her amiable, and subdue my father. View more context for this quotation a1656 Bp. J. Hall Invisible World (1659) ii. vi. 116 The infinitely amiable and glorious Deity. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 162. ¶4 We..are amiable or odious in the Eyes of our great Judge. 1817 Port Folio Dec. 459 He had married a woman of some beauty..; and (what made her appear still more amiable in his eyes) she had brought him a fortune more than adequate to his expectations. 1905 A. Urban Teachers' Handbk. Biblical Hist. lx. 306 We must love God with all the powers and capabilities of our soul, because He is the supreme and most amiable God. b. Of a thing. Obsolete.Later use of amiable dwelling is probably in allusion to Psalm 83:1 (King James Version): cf. quot. 1535. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > [adjective] winsomea900 sweetc900 likingeOE i-quemec950 lieflyOE winlyOE hereOE thankfulc1000 merryOE queemc1175 beina1200 willea1200 leesomec1200 savouryc1225 estea1250 i-wilc1275 winc1275 welcomea1300 doucea1350 well-pleasingc1350 acceptablea1382 pleasablea1382 pleasanta1382 pleaseda1382 acceptedc1384 amiablec1384 well-likinga1387 queemfulc1390 flattering1393 pleasinga1398 well-queeminga1400 comelyc1400 farrandc1400 greable1401 goodlyc1405 amicable?a1425 placablec1429 amene1433 winful1438 listyc1440 dulcet1445 agreeablec1450 favourousc1485 sweetly?a1500 pleasureful?c1502 dulcea1513 grate1523 prettya1529 plausible1541 jolly1549 dulcoratec1550 toothsome1551 pleasurable1557 tickling1558 suavec1560 amenous1567 odoriferous?1575 perfumed1580 glada1586 tickle1593 pleasurous1595 favoursome1601 dulcean1606 gratifying1611 Hyblaean1614 gratulatea1616 arrident1616 solacefula1618 pleasantable1619 placid1628 contentsome1632 sapid1640 canny1643 gustful1647 peramene1657 pergrateful1657 tastefula1659 complacent1660 placentiousa1661 gratifactorya1665 bland1667 suavious1669 palatable1683 placent1683 complaisant1710 nice1747 tasty1796 sweetsome1799 titbit1820 connate1836 cunning1843 mooi1850 gemütlich1852 sympathique1859 congenial1878 sympathetic1900 sipid1908 onkus1910 sympathisch1911 c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Amos v. 11 Ȝe shuln plante most amyable [L. amantissimas] vyne ȝerdis. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 156 Gode blode is..pure in odour and amiable [?c1425 Paris louesome; L. amicabilis] in sapour. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxxiii. 1 How amiable [a1382 Wycliffite, E.V. looued; 1611 amiable] are thy dwellinges, thou Lorde of hoostes? 1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. xcvi. 138 Of savour and smell more amiable or pleasant. 1655 J. Howell 4th Vol. Familiar Lett. xxxvi. 85 They keep their Churches so cleanly and Amiable. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 513 It was no amiable thing to be a Province to Spain. 1722 R. Steele Conscious Lovers (1755) ii. i. 35 To tear his amiable Image from my Heart. 1821 W. Hazlitt Table-talk I. ii. 28 Even the colours with which the painter had adorned her hair were not more golden, more amiable to sight, than those which played round and tantalised my fancy ere I saw the picture. 1867 M. Arnold Heine's Grave in New Poems 197 This amiable home of the dead. 1925 E. F. Benson Mother iii. 85 It..seemed a terribly amiable dwelling. †2. Chiefly in regard to behaviour or attitude towards others: friendly, kindly.In later use passing into sense A. 3. a. Of a person. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] holdc893 friendOE fellowly?c1225 couthlyc1275 friendfulc1379 amiablea1382 commonc1384 queema1400 lovely1409 acquaintablea1425 familiarc1425 great1483 friendlikea1500 towardly15.. amicable1532 friendable1569 amical1580 graceful?1593 accostable1611 amicous1676 lovable1691 clever1758 unchilled1794 tosh1821 mately1822 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Prov. xviii. 24 A man amyable [L. vir amicalis] to felashipe mor a frend shal be, than a brother. ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. vi. l. 1662 Amyable fortune with hir flaterynges draweth mys wandrynge men fro the souereyne good. a1492 W. Caxton tr. Vitas Patrum (1495) i. xix. f. xxii/1 One namyd Phylemon, whyche was moche amyable & debonayr to the peple. a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) viii. l. 2344 Gud nychtbure, And amyabil, he trowit, compositoure. 1568 T. Hacket tr. A. Thevet New Found Worlde lxxvi. f. 123^v The people of that countrey is as obediente, and as amiable as is possible. 1655 F. G. tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Artamenes V. ix. iii. 148 Whether she be merry or serious, she is alwayes equally amiable to all her friends. 1687 tr. C. Gobinet Instr. Youth in Christian Piety iv. xvii. 355 Accustom your self to consider all Men as your Brethren, and in this Quality to desire Good to all of them. Be meek and amiable to all. b. Of speech, behaviour, etc. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > (of words or conduct) friendly smoothc1400 amiablec1405 goodlyc1405 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §12 W^t amyable wordes hir to reconforte. c1460 J. Lydgate Praise of Peace l. 51 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 787 Froward cheerys pees makith amyable. 1537 in R. W. Ingram Rec. Early Eng. Drama: Coventry (1981) 145 In consideracion & recompense of which Aimeable surrender & gifte. a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 226 Lay an amiable siege to the honesty of this Fords wife. View more context for this quotation 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 459. ¶12 Giving us more amiable Ideas of the Supreme Being. 1797 M. Noble Mem. House Medici xviii. 356 One of the first transactions that marked his approaching manhood, was his amiable behaviour towards Carlo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 602 The rebels..proceeded to Wells, and arrived there in no amiable temper. 3. Chiefly in regard to disposition or mood, or the actions associated with such a disposition or mood: characterized by friendliness; having or characteristic of a friendly and pleasant nature or character, good-natured; affable, sociable. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > and worthy amiable1749 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. iii. vii. 196 The amiable Temper of Pity. View more context for this quotation 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. vi. 122 That amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public. 1816 G. Crabb Eng. Synonymes 74 An amiable disposition, without a lovely person, will render a person beloved. It is distressing to see any one who is lovely in person to be unamiable in character. 1859 Economist 5 June 624/1 A shrewd observation and some humour are shown in the sketches of the neighbouring families, and of the kind-hearted, amiable dunce of the Wyecombe family. 1896 L. Becke Ebbing of Tide 242 He..asked the mate, in an amiable tone of voice, if he had ‘any (ruddy) noospapers from Sydney’. 1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xix. 210 ‘You'd think I ought to let Anne go to the moon if she took the notion, I've no doubt,’ was Marilla's amiable rejoinder. 1968 E. Wilson Jrnl. June in Sixties: Last Jrnl. (1993) 717 Paul Horgan read a little éloge, and we exchanged some amiable kidding. 2011 N.Y. Mag. 28 Mar. 54/2 A classic Irish pub with amiable, be-paunched bartenders. 4. Originally and chiefly U.S. Well-disposed, favourably inclined to (also towards) an immaterial thing. ΚΠ 1875 W. D. Howells Foregone Concl. v. 72 That foreign eccentricity to which their nation is so amiable. 1914 R. P. Walton Names, Dates, & Numbers ix. 45 If we desire musical success, let us endeavor to be amiable to the musical currents and not antagonistic. 1921 Oregon Voter 17 Dec. 31 The present bus and truck operators are..amiable toward the proposal to regulate them. 2002 D. L. Hart Year of Rat vii. 42 Andy appeared to be amiable to the idea. B. n. colloquial. to do (also make, play, etc.) the amiable: to behave amiably; to engage in pleasant conversation. Cf. do v. 19b. Now rare. ΚΠ 1811 Lit. Panorama July 93 At Brighton—a ball at the castle..saw her—sweet, sickly, smiling, gay, young, and awkward..introduced—made the amiable, talked as much nonsense as would fill a novel. 1824 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 342 My lady, who has..to do the amiable at her humdrum rows. 1831 M. M. Sherwood Roxobel III. iv. 77 When a family is suffering under severe distress, it is certainly revolting to see a member of the household endeavouring to play the amiable, and to shew off her supposed sensibilities. 1854 L. H. de Bonelli Trav. Bolivia I. 28 The young gentlemen of our party began to buck up and tried to outvie each other in doing the amiable. 1879 K. E. Stantial tr. J. von Dewall Marriage Tie viii. 143 Cousin Thaddeus soon began to play the amiable to the blooming Mélanie. 1954 Minnesota Hist. 37 141/2 The officers ‘do the amiable’ as well as they can amid the rush of the representatives of the Atlantic shores. Compounds C1. With present participles, forming adjectives in which amiable expresses the complement of the underlying verb, as in amiable-looking, amiable-seeming, etc., adjs. ΚΠ 1815 Statesman 14 Dec.‘do the amiable’ Pretending..a wish to know her with the professed disposition to serve her, by getting her, or giving her, a better employment, as ‘a neat, modest, amiable-looking girl’. 1851 W. Howitt Madam Dorrington of Dene II. iii. 42 Crime, astonishing, motiveless, staring forth from the most lovely and amiable-seeming forms. 1938 Country Life 17 Dec. p. xliv/1 A few days ago at a dinner-party I felt greatly enraged against a pleasant-looking, amiable-seeming, twinkling-eyed man sitting opposite me at table. 1991 N.Y. Times Mag. 29 Dec. 17/4 This particular group includes a soft-spoken, London-based Saudi journalist..and an amiable-looking Algerian hippie with a Rastafarian-style hairdo. C2. amiable number n. either of a pair of numbers, each of which equals the sum of all the factors of the other, excluding the number itself; = amicable number n. at amicable adj. Compounds.The smallest pair of amiable numbers is 220 and 284. ΚΠ 1721 E. Hatton Intire Syst. Arithm. Introd. 2 Amiable Numbers, are 2 such, as that the Sum of the Aliquot Parts of one, will make up the other Number alternately. 1817 T. Leybourn Math. Questions II. 10 Mr. Stone's theorem, in his Mathematical Dictionary, for finding amiable numbers, is erroneous. 1998 A. W. Binks et al. Fund. Math. for Caribbean (new ed.) III. 283/1 Sum of factors of 220 = 284 and sum of factors of 284 = 220; 220 and 284 are amiable numbers. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.n.a1375
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