variableadj.n.

c1397 G. Chaucer Lack Stedf. 8 What made this worlde to be so variable But louste þat folke haue in discencion?

c1400 Rom. Rose 5424 In a state that is not stable, But chaungynge ay and variable.

1448–9 J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 54 Thy uaryabyl squel,..O fortune! brent myght be With Pluto in helle.

1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton g iiij For the goodes of thys worlde been varyable; now one is ryche and now poure.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure 51 They nothing thynke on fortune var [i] able.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxvj The Englishe affaires..began to wauer, and waxe variable.

1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. 119 Some joining in skirmish with the enemies, fought with variable event.

1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 696 They had continued a doubtfull and variable fight a great part of the day.

c1475 ( in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 145 In thy behestes be nat variable.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. clv^v See you not howe varyable the Kynge is in his wordis?

a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) 214 In vsyng my rayment I am not varyable.

1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. lv, in Bulwarke of Defence Bee not variable in Religion.

1623 King James VI & I Let. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 139 He is in this bussienesse..as variable and uncertaine as the Moone.

1412–20 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy iv. 5120 Þei wil holde stable, And finally nat be variable From þe ende, platly, þat þei make.

c1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 216 If we fynde hym varyable Of his prechynge that he hath tawth.

c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn l. 752 No mervell is, þouȝe Rome be som what variabill ffro honour & fro wele.

1493 Petronylla (Pynson) 21 From hir entent nat founde variable.

a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid 150 in Poems (1981) 116 The seuin planetis..hes power..To reull..Wedder and wind, and coursis variabill.

1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes v. §15. 428 Peace is not like the immoveable mountaines, but rather like to the variable skie.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 6 The Weather was temperate, variable and cool enough.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 493/2 The great sunshine heats of Florence, which are too variable and undetermined.

1808 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 19 569 The weather..was very variable, but upon the whole mild.

1854 Poultry Chron. 1 288 Exposed entirely to the vicissitudes of our ever-variable climate.

1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. iii. i. sig. R1^v As variable as the Wind.

1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 225 We had the Wind variable.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 340 He who has been taught to consider that nothing in the world is so variable as the winds.

1831 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. ii. 94 There is a tendency of the surface waters to the S.E., being variable in winter.

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxv. 84 The wind shifted and became variable.

1854 L. Tomlinson tr. D. F. J. Arago Pop. Lect. Astron. 185 Much less regular in the temperate regions, they are called variable winds.

1788 Encycl. Brit. II. 471/2 (margin) Of the variable stars.

1854 D. Brewster More Worlds i. 7 It appears and disappears like a variable star, shewing in painful succession its spots of light and of shade.

1880 A. Giberne Sun, Moon, & Stars 239 There are numbers of stars called Variable Stars, the light of which is constantly changing, now becoming more, now becoming less.

1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species v. 149 Beings low in the scale of nature are more variable than those which are higher.

1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith v. 231 Species, it has been well said, are ‘variable, but not mutable’.

1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life 59 It is now very easy to understand how, from such a variable species, one or more new species may arise.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 239 The peple wente furthe to mete the victor with variable [L. varia] gladdenesse.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xvi. 61 For musike doth sette in all untye The discorde thynges whiche are variable.

1539 Act 31 Hen. VIII c. 14 By occasion of variable and sundrie opinions..great discorde..hathe arrisen.

1576 A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. Ep. Ded. sign. ¶ iii Flowers..delightsome to the eye, in consideration of their variable colours.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 372 The variable transformations of Proteus.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 167 It were a worke..tedious to the Reader, to recite the variable opinions of Chronologers..about these points.

1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. clxxviii Thy vysage chaungynge by lokes manyfolde..Sometyme as lede, from deth scant varyable.

1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Ciij^v Of the coloure of boxe, somwhat variable and as it wer chekered.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 94 His belly is variable, now great, now small like an Oxes.

1804 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 12 496 They are sold at a more reduced price, about 9s. per dozen; this, however variable,..leaves the money saved proportionably the same.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 114 The pressure of the atmosphere is variable.

1858 D. Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Philos.: Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, & Heat (new ed.) 281 When the quantity of heat necessary to raise a body one degree is different in different parts of the scale, the specific heat is said to be variable.

1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 27 If a point, P, moves round a circle with a velocity either constant or variable.

1710 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum II Variable Quantities, in Fluxions, are such as are supposed to be continually increasing or decreasing; and so do by the motion of their said Increase or Decrease Generate Lines, Areas or Solidities.

1743 W. Emerson Doctr. Fluxions 223 If any one of the variable Distances..be called x.

1763 W. Emerson Method of Increments 41 Multiply the given increment by the next preceeding value of the variable quantity.

1801 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 740/1 The abscisses and ordinates of an ellipsis, or other curve line, are variable quantities.

1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. II. 374 A sucker composed of a variable number of scaly pieces.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 254 Small bundles, the number of which is variable.

1829 Nat. Philos. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. Hydrostatics 2 Some springs, called variable or reciprocating,..discharge a much smaller quantity of water for a certain time, and then give out a greater quantity.

1953 Stonier & Hague Textbk. Econ. Theory v. 110 ‘Variable’, ‘prime’ and ‘direct’ costs represent all those costs which can be altered in the short run as output alters.

1967 A. Battersby Network Anal. (ed. 2) xii. 200 There are other cases which more closely resemble the variable-cost control, as when the number of men allocated to a job is variable and governs duration.

1969 D. C. Hague Managerial Econ. i. 15 The remainder of total cost is made up of those costs that do vary with output—with what are therefore known as variable costs.

1974 Terminol. Managem. & Financial Accountancy (Inst. Cost & Managem. Accountants) 24 Variable cost, a cost which, in the aggregate, tends to vary in direct proportion to change in the volume of output or turnover.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxii. 145 What if the ministers vocation be..not a ceremonie variable as times and occasions require?

1611 Bible (King James) Hab. iii. 1 (margin) According to variable songs or tunes.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2690/2 Variable Cut-off, one actuated from the governor, so as to be brought into action according to the load on the engine.

1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Nov. 7/1 The permanent taxes..will be variable only by regular Act.

1891 in Cent. Dict.

1816 tr. S. F. Lacroix Elem. Treat. Differential & Integral Calculus 4 The limit of the ratio..will be obtained by dividing the differential of the function by that of the variable.

1862 J. W. Draper Intell. Devel. Europe (1865) 173 In some mathematical expression containing constants and variables.

1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 238 In this case ϕ will also be a potential (or flow) function of the new variables (ξ, η).

1837 C. Babbage in B. Randell Origins Digital Computers (1973) 23 The number of variables which can be contained within the store will depend on the length of the rack.

1843 Scientific Mem. III. 666 We have..written Variable with a capital letter when we use the word to signify a column of the engine, and variable with a small letter when we mean the variable of a formula.

1957 Proc. IRE-AIEE-ACM Western Joint Computer Conf. 190/1 The programmer may also employ subscripted variables having three independent subscripts.

1967 R. Beckett & J. Hurt Numerical Calculations & Algorithms i. 23 Variable names are usually limited in length because they must be coded as numbers and space is required to store these numbers... The number of characters used to define a variable is arbitrary, provided that it does not exceed a given maximum.

1972 S. Bergman & S. Bruckner Introd. Computers & Computer Programming ix. 288 [In FORTRAN] the data locations are divided into constants and variables... Variables are locations into which we may read numbers or place (store) numbers at execution time.

1975 H. Katzan Introd. Computer Sci. v. 108 The names hours, rate, and pay are variables... A variable is an identifier that names a data item.

1979 Sci. Amer. Dec. 85/1 In programming languages a variable is not an item of data but a label for a location in the memory of the computer. The value of a variable at any moment is the information currently stored there.

1981 W. S. Davis Computers & Business Information Processing xiii. 234 A FORTRAN variable consists of from one to six letters or digits, the first of which must be a letter.

1982 Cooper & Clancy Oh! Pascal! i. 10 The variables that computers use are like the memory keys of hand calculators—they store values... Variables can hold different types of values, including integers.., characters.., or even logical values.

1910 A. N. Whitehead & B. Russell Principia Mathematica I. i. 4 In mathematical logic, any symbol whose meaning is not determinate is called a variable.

1910 A. N. Whitehead & B. Russell Principia Mathematica I. i. 4 If a statement is made about ‘Mr A and Mr B’, ‘Mr A’ and ‘Mr B’ are variables whose values are confined to men.

1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. i. 21 If a variable which is free in ₁ occurs in ₁, then ₁ is called open; otherwise it is called closed... Our classification into closed and open sentences corresponds to the usual classification into sentences and sentential functions.

1939 Jrnl. Philos. 36 702 Whereas the singular existence statement calls the alleged existent by name, e.g., ‘Pegasus’, the general existence statement does not; the reference is made rather by a variable ‘x’, the logistical analogue of a pronoun ‘which’, ‘something which’.

1954 A. J. Ayer Philos. Ess. ix. 216 The range of our ontological commitments may..be reduced by our ability to recast some of our existential statements in such a way that variables which take a certain type of value disappear from them.

1969 R. Feys & F. B. Fitch Dict. Symbols Math. Logic 6 In interpreting a formalized language it is usual to specify the respective ranges of the various variables of the language.

1978 S. Haack Philos. Logics iv. 39 In general, prefixing a quantifier binding one of its free variables to an open sentence with n free variables yields an open sentence with n—1 free variables.

1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 349 The meeting of the two opposite currents [of wind] here produces the intermediate space called the calms or variables.

1857 R. Tomes Americans in Japan i. 31 The Variables, which are found South of the border of the South-east Trades.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 710 Variables, those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected.

1868 J. N. Lockyer Elem. Lessons Astron. 21 Among the acknowledged variables β Persei is perhaps the most interesting.

1880 Athenæum 11 Sept. 341/1 The period of this interesting variable is a little less than five days.

1920 Flight 12 5/1 Variable area or variable camber wings—or other means for reducing the landing speed of a machine.

1957 A. R. Manvell & J. Huntley Technique Film Music iii. 171 This optical wedge is caused to oscillate over a light slit by the motion of the pendulums, producing a variable-area type of sound-track.

1959 E. M. McCormick Digital Computer Primer viii. 119 These difficulties are avoided in many business computers by organizing the storage to accommodate variable-length records.

1970 Computers & Humanities 4 327 The data fields of the customer's data base in variable-length capability.

1980 C. S. French Computer Sci. xi. 60 Variable length records mean difficulties for the programmer but better utilisation of storage.

1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 138/1 A variable-reluctance microphone is a microphone which depends for its operation on variations in the reluctance of a magnetic circuit.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2691/1 (caption) Olmsted's Variable-Speed Pulley.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2691/1 Variable-speed Wheel, a contrivance for obtaining alternately accelerated and retarded circular motion.

1978 P. Griffiths Conc. Hist. Mod. Music viii. 116 Cage went further and created..his Imaginary Landscape no. 1, in which musicians have to perform with frequency recordings on variable-speed turntables.

1984 B. Francis AA Car Duffer's Guide 67/2 A variable-speed fan is provided to boost the air-flow throughout the car's interior at low speeds.

1957 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. 16 166 The design characteristics of such gliders may include..variable geometry lifting surfaces, to be very thin at high speeds and to have good lift properties at landing.

1963 Times 10 June 10/1 He believed that variable geometry would give a better aircraft.

1969 Sci. Jrnl. Apr. 48/1 The wing surface [of a bat's wing] is an elastic membrane of skin stretched between the four long fingers, with at least 11 movable joints in each wing. This very variable geometry permits a high degree of manoeuvrability and control.

1970 New Scientist 30 July 236 (caption) These drawings show the variable geometry of the air intake on the Olympus 593-3B engine.

1977 P. Way Super-Celeste 39 The rival to the Super-Celeste, the variable geometry wing F-24, was airborne again.

1930 Ballantine & Snow in Proc. IRE 18 2102 (heading) Reduction of distortion and cross-talk in radio receivers by means of variable-mu tetrodes.

1962 Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 860/1 A coarse-pitch grid gives a low magnification and requires greater bias to cutoff. In the variable-mu valve the grid is graded, and this gives a valve whose gain can be altered by changing the bias applied to it.

1971 E. N. Lurch Fund. Electronics (ed. 2) v. 143 The tube employing this special grid is termed cutoff, supercontrol, or variable-mu.

1912 Ledeboer & Hubbard tr. Duchêne's Mech. of Aeroplane vii. 197 M. Drzewiecki, with the idea of getting the maximum efficiency out of every part of the propeller, varies the pitch at each point so that the actual angle of incidence is everywhere the optimum angle. Propellers of this kind are known as variable-pitch propellers, and are consequently no longer true screws.

1918 W. H. Berry Aircraft in War & Commerce vii. 91 Worked in combination with a variable pitch propeller the gearbox would allow the pilot a range in power and speed.

1919 H. Shaw Text-bk. Aeronaut. xi. 147 In the variable pitch type, the blade angle is varied continuously from the hub outwards in such a way that the slip column of air is forced backwards with a velocity which is uniform throughout.

1952 A. Y. Bramble Air-plane Flight x. 153 The problem of providing the essential static thrust for take-off found its solution in the variable-pitch propeller.

1971 Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 3 (advt.) Variable pitch engine cooling fan. Large range to fit most popular cars.

1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia I. 375/1 Additional features have been engineered into variable-pitch propellers; first, the ability to feather..a propeller on an engine stopped in flight.

1954 Economist 11 Sept. 12/3 Variable sweep. After take-off with wings only partially swept, means are provided to sweep them back more sharply in flight. Strictly experimental.

1965 New Scientist 22 Apr. 217/1 The development of the variable-sweep wing in collaboration with the French might lead to a load-carrier of outstanding performance.

1966 Economist 22 Jan. 330/1 Massive, variable-sweep aircraft whose wings pivot around stanchions as thick as tree-trunks.

1978 D. Küchemann Aerodynamic Design of Aircraft iv. 120 E. von Holst flew models with various arrangements of variable sweep.