practicableadj.n.

Brit.

/ˈpraktᵻkəbl/, U.S.

/ˈpræktəkəb(ə)l/

Forms: 1500s– practicable, 1700s pracktiquable.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin; partly modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: Latin practicabilis.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin practicabilis (a1308 in a British source) < practicare (see practicate adj.) + classical Latin -bilis -ble suffix. In senses A. 2a, A. 2b, and B. 2 after French praticable (1694 and 1832 respectively as adjective, 1835 as noun, in these senses; sense A. 1 is first attested later in French (a1679); sense A. 3 is apparently not paralleled in French). Compare also Italian praticabile (adjective) (of a route) able to be traversed (1573), (of an idea or action) able to be put into practice (1618), (noun) prop or item of usable scenery (1816–26). Compare earlier practiceable adj.

A. adj.

1. Able to be done or put into practice successfully; feasible; able to be used; useful, practical, effective.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > easiness > [adjective] > feasible

openOE

possiblec1384

doablec1443

feasiblec1460

agible?a1475

performable1548

parable1563

practiceable1570

compassable1581

factible1585

effectuable1590

practicable1593

exploitable1611

achievable1634

effectible1646

operable1646

accomplishable1657

perpetrable1680

workable1756

executable1796

expeditable1820

workable1822

powerable1860

runnable1860

manageable1866

actable1876

viable1955

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 130 There might fall-out fiue hundred practicable cases, and a thousand disputable questions in a yeare..wherewith they neuer disquieted their braynes.

1630 H. Wotton Let. in L. P. Smith Life & Lett. Sir H. Wotton (1907) II. 331 There was some practicable hope to have sped the boy this year to Cambridge.

1655 J. Cook Let. in MS Rawlinson A. 189 f. 396 It is w^th more facility Practicable here, than elsewhere (though a like desirable in all Places).

1670 E. Maynwaring (title) Vita Sana & Longa. The Preservation of Health,..proved. In the due observance of Remarkable Præcautions And daily practicable Rules, Relating to Body and Mind.

1688 S. Penton Guardian's Instr. 63 There was so much plain, practicable Truth in what he had said.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 169 I knew not how it was practicable to get it about.

1759 S. Johnson Prince of Abissinia I. vi. 35 He..found the master busy in building a sailing chariot: he saw that the design was practicable upon a level surface.

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxiv. 452 At length, as the only practicable measure, he embraced the resolution of directing his steps towards the banks of the Tigris.

1807 in Hist. Rec. Austral. (1916) 1st Ser. VI. 154 By the Wild Cattle is to be understood Animals which no barrier practicable to be made by us at present can confine.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. iii. 26 Ascended the glacier as far as practicable.

1892 Dict. National Biogr. XXXI. 79/1 In her closet was found a sacramental wafer, with a print of the devil, and some ointment which converted a staff into a practicable steed.

1908 E. F. Benson Climber 28 The whitewash lines of the court were still faintly visible, and there were not many holes at the top of the net, so that a game was easily practicable.

1921 Act 11 & 12 George V c. 31 §17 The person aggrieved..may apply to the next practicable court of quarter sessions for the country.

1983 K. M. MacMorran & K. J. T. Elphinstone Handbk. for Churchwardens & Parochial Church Councillors xi. 123 The result of any election by an annual meeting shall be announced as soon as practicable by the person presiding over the election.

1992 Byte Nov. 155/1 Signal processing can let you understand the information in a signal, transform it into a practicable form, or use it to synthesize information.

a. Of a route, passage, entry, etc.: able to be used or traversed; that can be passed.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > [adjective] > travelled on, over, or through > able to be

trespassablec1400

permeable?a1439

passable1483

travellable1521

passageable1574

perviable1610

transpassable1614

perviousa1631

commerceable1654

traversable1658

practicable1710

viable1856

crossable1865

negotiable1880

1710 London Gaz. No. 4709/1 The Breach..being already practicable, Preparations were making for the general Assault.

1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VI. xxii. 92 On a post-morning in which a practicable breach had been made by the duke of Marlborough in the main body of the place, [etc.].

1784 J. Belknap Jrnl. 28 July in Tour to White Mts. (1876) 16 The only practicable pass through these Mountains to the upper settlements on Connecticut River.

1803 T. Jefferson Let. 20 June in Writings (1984) 1127 The Missouri river..may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent.

1828 W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 309 From Gibraltar the road to Cadiz is likewise very practicable for ladies.

1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India II. xi. iii. 519 By the time the breach was practicable the town was distressed for provisions.

1872 C. A. Payton Diamond Diggings 9 The river is so high that the ordinary passage by the ‘drift’, or ford..is not practicable.

1901 Dict. National Biogr. Suppl. I. 116/2 The discovery of four practicable passes, one of which is now followed by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

1953 E. Shipton Geogr. Jrnl. June There was a practicable route up the southern side of Mount Everest.

1988 B. Cooper Alexander Kennedy Isbister i. 15 He then began..the search for a practicable communication with the Colville.

b. Functional, real; (Theatre) (of props or scenery) operable, able to be used, real as opposed to purely decorative or sham; = practical adj. 1d.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > theatrical equipment or accessories > [adjective] > relating to scenery > type of scenery

practicable1837

practical1894

constructional1924

1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxvii. 405 Shovels-full of coal, which Mr. Bob Sawyer took out of a practicable window-seat, labelled ‘Soda-Water’.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxii. 211 He put his head out of the practicable door in the front grooves O.P.

1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 296/1 Although they [sc. narrow passages at the back of the stage] are, in stage language, ‘practicable’, hardly could they have been made use of.

1882 M. Oliphant Lit. Hist. Eng. I. 362 His [sc. Southey's] scenery and enchantments are always ‘practicable’, to use theatrical language.

1905 E. M. Forster Where Angels fear to Tread vi. 207 There advanced a..clothes-horse, stuck all over with bouquets... She embraced the animal, pulled out one or two practicable blossoms..and flung them into her admirers.

1916 R. A. Freeman Exploits of Danby Croker iii. 71 Still the two collectors sat like graven images with ‘practicable’ jaws.

1972 N.Y. Times: Abstr. (Nexis) 2 Apr. ii. 19/1 ‘Practicable’, which refers to any moveable 3-dimensional stage prop or piece of scenery, is a perfect name for pieces that make up the show.

2002 Theatre Hist. Stud. 115 A more finished version of the garden plan..can be seen in figure 2, for an unidentified production. The lazy line back becomes here a garden path stretching across what may be a practicable footbridge.

†3. slang. Easily practised upon or manipulated, gullible; (also) open to collusion. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. v. i. 244 As practicable greenhorns as ever fell into the hands of a man of genius.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas III. vii. xv. 212 You might as well be a little more practicable with the clerk of the kitchen.

B. n.

†1. A course of action or an idea which is feasible, or is capable of being put into practice or realistically implemented. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. 2 The intermediate objects of moral Prudence are in general al agibles or practicables.

2. Theatre. A prop or item of usable scenery. Cf. sense A. 2b.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > theatrical equipment or accessories > [noun] > props

propertya1450

prop1841

stage-property1850

theatricals1855

practicable1859

prop1911

1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. xviii. 267 The machinist had put up a plank running from the stage to the end of the pit, and..two other ‘practicables’, much shorter than the centre one, ran across to the boxes.

1881 P. Fitzgerald World behind Scenes i. 6 ‘Practicables’ as the French call them, that is to say, constructed scenery.

1916 B. Matthews Bk. about Theater 141 This advance was accompanied by a more liberal use of stairways and platforms—‘practicables’ as the stage-phrase is—that is to say, built up by the carpenters so that the actors could go from one level to another.

1992 Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 2 Aug. Sydney producer Kevin Jacobsen, who is bringing Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet to Australia this month, received a fax a few days ago from Moscow requesting two practicables and four flutters for the Russians' tour.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	practicable
释义	practicableadj.n. Brit. /ˈpraktᵻkəbl/, U.S. /ˈpræktəkəb(ə)l/ Forms: 1500s– practicable, 1700s pracktiquable. Origin: A borrowing from Latin; partly modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: Latin practicabilis. Etymology: < post-classical Latin practicabilis (a1308 in a British source) < practicare (see practicate adj.) + classical Latin -bilis -ble suffix. In senses A. 2a, A. 2b, and B. 2 after French praticable (1694 and 1832 respectively as adjective, 1835 as noun, in these senses; sense A. 1 is first attested later in French (a1679); sense A. 3 is apparently not paralleled in French). Compare also Italian praticabile (adjective) (of a route) able to be traversed (1573), (of an idea or action) able to be put into practice (1618), (noun) prop or item of usable scenery (1816–26). Compare earlier practiceable adj. A. adj. 1. Able to be done or put into practice successfully; feasible; able to be used; useful, practical, effective. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > easiness > [adjective] > feasible openOE possiblec1384 doablec1443 feasiblec1460 agible?a1475 performable1548 parable1563 practiceable1570 compassable1581 factible1585 effectuable1590 practicable1593 exploitable1611 achievable1634 effectible1646 operable1646 accomplishable1657 perpetrable1680 workable1756 executable1796 expeditable1820 workable1822 powerable1860 runnable1860 manageable1866 actable1876 viable1955 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 130 There might fall-out fiue hundred practicable cases, and a thousand disputable questions in a yeare..wherewith they neuer disquieted their braynes. 1630 H. Wotton Let. in L. P. Smith Life & Lett. Sir H. Wotton (1907) II. 331 There was some practicable hope to have sped the boy this year to Cambridge. 1655 J. Cook Let. in MS Rawlinson A. 189 f. 396 It is w^th more facility Practicable here, than elsewhere (though a like desirable in all Places). 1670 E. Maynwaring (title) Vita Sana & Longa. The Preservation of Health,..proved. In the due observance of Remarkable Præcautions And daily practicable Rules, Relating to Body and Mind. 1688 S. Penton Guardian's Instr. 63 There was so much plain, practicable Truth in what he had said. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 169 I knew not how it was practicable to get it about. 1759 S. Johnson Prince of Abissinia I. vi. 35 He..found the master busy in building a sailing chariot: he saw that the design was practicable upon a level surface. 1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxiv. 452 At length, as the only practicable measure, he embraced the resolution of directing his steps towards the banks of the Tigris. 1807 in Hist. Rec. Austral. (1916) 1st Ser. VI. 154 By the Wild Cattle is to be understood Animals which no barrier practicable to be made by us at present can confine. 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. iii. 26 Ascended the glacier as far as practicable. 1892 Dict. National Biogr. XXXI. 79/1 In her closet was found a sacramental wafer, with a print of the devil, and some ointment which converted a staff into a practicable steed. 1908 E. F. Benson Climber 28 The whitewash lines of the court were still faintly visible, and there were not many holes at the top of the net, so that a game was easily practicable. 1921 Act 11 & 12 George V c. 31 §17 The person aggrieved..may apply to the next practicable court of quarter sessions for the country. 1983 K. M. MacMorran & K. J. T. Elphinstone Handbk. for Churchwardens & Parochial Church Councillors xi. 123 The result of any election by an annual meeting shall be announced as soon as practicable by the person presiding over the election. 1992 Byte Nov. 155/1 Signal processing can let you understand the information in a signal, transform it into a practicable form, or use it to synthesize information. 2. a. Of a route, passage, entry, etc.: able to be used or traversed; that can be passed. ΘΚΠ society > travel > [adjective] > travelled on, over, or through > able to be trespassablec1400 permeable?a1439 passable1483 travellable1521 passageable1574 perviable1610 transpassable1614 perviousa1631 commerceable1654 traversable1658 practicable1710 viable1856 crossable1865 negotiable1880 1710 London Gaz. No. 4709/1 The Breach..being already practicable, Preparations were making for the general Assault. 1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VI. xxii. 92 On a post-morning in which a practicable breach had been made by the duke of Marlborough in the main body of the place, [etc.]. 1784 J. Belknap Jrnl. 28 July in Tour to White Mts. (1876) 16 The only practicable pass through these Mountains to the upper settlements on Connecticut River. 1803 T. Jefferson Let. 20 June in Writings (1984) 1127 The Missouri river..may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent. 1828 W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 309 From Gibraltar the road to Cadiz is likewise very practicable for ladies. 1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India II. xi. iii. 519 By the time the breach was practicable the town was distressed for provisions. 1872 C. A. Payton Diamond Diggings 9 The river is so high that the ordinary passage by the ‘drift’, or ford..is not practicable. 1901 Dict. National Biogr. Suppl. I. 116/2 The discovery of four practicable passes, one of which is now followed by the Canadian Pacific Railway. 1953 E. Shipton Geogr. Jrnl. June There was a practicable route up the southern side of Mount Everest. 1988 B. Cooper Alexander Kennedy Isbister i. 15 He then began..the search for a practicable communication with the Colville. b. Functional, real; (Theatre) (of props or scenery) operable, able to be used, real as opposed to purely decorative or sham; = practical adj. 1d. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > theatrical equipment or accessories > [adjective] > relating to scenery > type of scenery practicable1837 practical1894 constructional1924 1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxvii. 405 Shovels-full of coal, which Mr. Bob Sawyer took out of a practicable window-seat, labelled ‘Soda-Water’. 1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxii. 211 He put his head out of the practicable door in the front grooves O.P. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 296/1 Although they [sc. narrow passages at the back of the stage] are, in stage language, ‘practicable’, hardly could they have been made use of. 1882 M. Oliphant Lit. Hist. Eng. I. 362 His [sc. Southey's] scenery and enchantments are always ‘practicable’, to use theatrical language. 1905 E. M. Forster Where Angels fear to Tread vi. 207 There advanced a..clothes-horse, stuck all over with bouquets... She embraced the animal, pulled out one or two practicable blossoms..and flung them into her admirers. 1916 R. A. Freeman Exploits of Danby Croker iii. 71 Still the two collectors sat like graven images with ‘practicable’ jaws. 1972 N.Y. Times: Abstr. (Nexis) 2 Apr. ii. 19/1 ‘Practicable’, which refers to any moveable 3-dimensional stage prop or piece of scenery, is a perfect name for pieces that make up the show. 2002 Theatre Hist. Stud. 115 A more finished version of the garden plan..can be seen in figure 2, for an unidentified production. The lazy line back becomes here a garden path stretching across what may be a practicable footbridge. †3. slang. Easily practised upon or manipulated, gullible; (also) open to collusion. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. v. i. 244 As practicable greenhorns as ever fell into the hands of a man of genius. 1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas III. vii. xv. 212 You might as well be a little more practicable with the clerk of the kitchen. B. n. †1. A course of action or an idea which is feasible, or is capable of being put into practice or realistically implemented. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. 2 The intermediate objects of moral Prudence are in general al agibles or practicables. 2. Theatre. A prop or item of usable scenery. Cf. sense A. 2b. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > theatrical equipment or accessories > [noun] > props propertya1450 prop1841 stage-property1850 theatricals1855 practicable1859 prop1911 1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. xviii. 267 The machinist had put up a plank running from the stage to the end of the pit, and..two other ‘practicables’, much shorter than the centre one, ran across to the boxes. 1881 P. Fitzgerald World behind Scenes i. 6 ‘Practicables’ as the French call them, that is to say, constructed scenery. 1916 B. Matthews Bk. about Theater 141 This advance was accompanied by a more liberal use of stairways and platforms—‘practicables’ as the stage-phrase is—that is to say, built up by the carpenters so that the actors could go from one level to another. 1992 Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 2 Aug. Sydney producer Kevin Jacobsen, who is bringing Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet to Australia this month, received a fax a few days ago from Moscow requesting two practicables and four flutters for the Russians' tour. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.n.1593
随便看	mother of states mother of states and statesmen mother of the bride mother of the herrings mother of the house mother of the maids mother of the maids of honour mother of the mine mother of the wood mother of thousands mother of thyme mother of vinegar mother of yaws mother pearl mother plane mother plant mother prioress mother queen mother queller mother quelling mother redcap mother root mother sheep mother ship mother shipton