paintableadj.
/ˈpeɪntəbl/, U.S. /ˈpeɪn(t)əb(ə)l/ 1. Of a surface, object, etc.: that can be coated with paint; easy to paint.
ΚΠ
1779 Morning Chron. 24 May The managers have entirely new painted..every thing paintable in the gardens, which renders their appearance additionally smart.
1879 Upper Des Moines (Algona, Iowa) 18 June 2/7 When a woman buys a kettle of paint..she paints everything paintable in the house with it till the last drop is exhausted.
1903 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 33 381 All..are of coarse unlevigated clay, and owe their paintable surface to a coating, more or less thick, of a dense chalky texture.
1919 Times 6 May 10/6 (advt.) There is a Berger Paint for every paintable surface—each is the best that 159 years of colour-making experience can produce.
2003 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 3 Jan. e3 My pick for storage: Tough Stuff utility cabinets; made of MDF and paintable.
2. Of a landscape, face, etc.: capable of being captured or conveyed in a painting; spec. lending itself to artistic representation, picturesque.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > [adjective] > capable of being painted
paintable1833
1833 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 957/1 If he would call the picturesque whatever is not beautiful nor sublime, yet paintable, (pardon the horrid word), well.
1833 New Monthly Mag. 38 162 This great poet is often more paintable than his brethren.
1862 W. W. Story Roba di Roma (1863) I. ii. 10 The new and clean is not so paintable..as the tarnished and soiled.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlviii. 238 She was very paintable, and all the young men..had made portraits of her.
1987 M. Milner Eternity's Sunrise ii. 92 Keeping my eyes open and at once everything I looked at became paintable.
2009 P. Berton Niagara iii. 117 In his three expeditions to the Falls in 1856, Church examined everything paintable.
Derivatives
ˈpaintableness n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > [noun] > capability of being painted
paintingness1801
paintableness1885
1885 Aurora (Indiana) Spectator 6 Aug. 7/1 Conventional frocks..which,..with their..total want of ‘paintableness’, hopelessly mar the effect of the stage picture.
1894 Athenæum 23 June 810/1 A good example of that aspect of nature for the discovery of which and of its paintableness the world is greatly indebted to Mr. Whistler.
1915 Times 1 Apr. 5/1 Surrey has a unique gift of ‘paintableness’ which is different from the solemn largeness of the Chilterns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1779