motileadj.n.
/ˈməʊtʌɪl/, U.S. /ˈmoʊdl/, /ˈmoʊˌtaɪl/ A. adj.
1. Biology. Capable of moving; characterized by or concerned with motion. Also (in extended use): characterized by facility or versatility of movement, mobile.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > movement > [adjective]
locomobile1833
mobile1849
erratic1855
motile1857
1857 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. 5 217 The author [sc. Lieberkuhn]..first discovered the ‘motile spores’ [Ger. Schwärmspore] after having left some recently collected Spongilla for a few hours in a vessel filled with river water.
1864 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. 4 189 The motile phenomena hitherto observed in sponges.
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 784 In a smaller number of instances periodically motile foliage-leaves..are irritable to touch or concussion.
1890 M. C. Cooke Introd. Fresh-water Algæ xi. 143 Active motile cells are so common amongst algæ that they scarce need description.
1921 R. E. Buchanan Agric. & Industr. Bacteriol. iii. 32 Rhizobium.—These organisms are minute rods, motile when young, by means of flagellata.
1944 L. Mumford Condition of Man vii. 238 Europeans ceased to be parts of a stable organism, anchored to its own past: they became active, motile, free-living.
1950 C. D. Darlington & K. Mather Genes, Plants & People (1955) vii. 80 The small male gamete is more motile and seeks out the less active egg prior to fertilization.
1989 B. Alberts et al. Molecular Biol. Cell (ed. 2) xv. 864 The motile tail of a sperm is a long flagellum.
2011 J. Cartwright Other People's Money (2012) xii. 121 He looks out at the green, ceaselessly motile tide and the hulk of the fishing boat, which lends a suggestion of memento mori to the view.
2. Psychology. Designating or characteristic of a person whose mental imagery is thought to be chiefly of a motor or kinaesthetic type. Cf. B. Now rare or disused.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental image > [adjective] > favouring motor images
motile1890
motor-minded1897
motorized1901
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xviii. 62 Professor Stricker of Vienna..seems to have the motile form of imagination developed in unusual strength.
1892 W. James Text-bk. Psychol. xix. 308 All blind persons must belong to the ‘tactile’ and ‘motile’ types of the French authors.
1909 Daily Chron. 22 Feb. 4/7 Unless you are a microcephalous idiot, you are either Audile, Motile, or Visile.
B. n.
Psychology. A person whose mental imagery is thought to be chiefly of a motor or kinaesthetic type. Cf. motor n. 7.Contrasted with audile, tactile, and visile.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental image > [noun] > being motor-minded > one who is
motile1886
motor1890
1886 Mind 11 415 This division of men into visuals, audiles, motiles and indifferents..is of great interest and importance.
1889 Proc. Soc. Psychical Res. 1888–9 5 536 A ‘motile’ reading the above question will dimly imagine the movements of his own larynx in uttering the word elephant.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xviii. 61 Persons who belong to this type (les moteurs, in French, motiles, as Mr. Galton proposes to call them in English) make use, in memory, reasoning, and all their intellectual operations, of images derived from movement.
1926 Science 63 6 Great differences were reported in the clearness and brightness of the images; people have been divided into visuals, audiles, motiles and tactiles.
1952 J. Drever Dict. Psychol. 174 Motile, a type of individual whose preferred type of imagery is motor.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1857