millableadj.
/ˈmɪləbl/, U.S. /ˈmɪləb(ə)l/ 1. Of a raw material, etc.: suitable for milling.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [adjective] > qualities of
fire-fangeda1522
well-winnowed1585
kerned1602
winnowed1609
long-grained1614
chafflessa1616
grindable1652
mealable1823
cracked1833
ungrindable1840
millable1869
1869 J. R. Browne Resources of Pacific Slope 323 About $100,000 have been expended upon these two claims, from neither of which has any amount of millable ore been extracted.
1905 13th Rep. Dept. Agric. (N.Z.) App. x. 402 Most of the Phormium [in flax swamps] was short, but there were considerable quantities of good millable fibre.
1935 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 99 218 Under the Act the quantity of home-grown millable wheat ranking for the full deficiency payment is limited to 27,000,000 qrs.
1959 Cape Argus 15 Aug. 1/5 The fire..destroyed about 2,000 tons of millable cane before it could be brought under control.
1999 Field Crops Res. 64 214/2 A 15 stalk sub-sample, was taken and partitioned into green leaf blades, dead leaf and dead sheaths.., millable stalks, [etc.].
2. Of wood: suitable for cutting in a sawmill. Of a tree: worth felling for this purpose.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > [adjective] > that can be cut in sawmill
millable1916
1916 Jrnl. Ecol. 4 22 ‘Tawa’, constituting 75 per cent. of the millable timber in some parts of the Rotorua district.
1924 Times Trade & Engin. Suppl. 29 Nov. 250/2 It is proposed..to open up 500,000 acres of farming land and 1,000,000,000 feet of millable bush.
1969 Northern Territory News (Darwin) (Focus '69 Suppl.) 83/1 There is a considerable stand of timber again reaching ‘millable’ stage.
1989 Eng. Today Jan. 37/1 Large areas of land called ‘Blocks’ or ‘Bush blocks’ were up for sale, and some of these contained millable local trees.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1869