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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`
`Oxford English Dictionary | The definitive record of the English
`language
`portable, adj. and n.
`
` /ˈpɔrdəb(ə)l/
` /ˈpɔːtəbl/ , U.S.
`Pronunciation:
`(cid:638) Brit.
`Forms:(cid:638) lME partable (transmission error), lME portabil, lME– portable; Sc. pre-17 poirtable, pre-17
`portabill, pre-17 17– portable.
`Frequency (in current use):(cid:638)
`Etymology:(cid:638) Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons:
`French portable; Latin portabilis.
`< Anglo-Norman portable, portabel, portible and Middle French portable (French portable ) that may be carried
`(13th cent. in Old French), bearable, tolerable (late 14th cent.) and its etymon post-classical Latin portabilis
`bearable, endurable (Vetus Latina), that may be carried (from 12th cent. in British sources), wearable (13th cent.
`in a British source) < classical Latin portāre PORT v. + -bilis -BLE suffix. With use as noun compare post-classical
`2
`Latin portabilia (plural) portable goods (14th cent. in British sources), use as noun of neuter plural of portabilis .
`
`(cid:638)C
`
`ompare earlier UNPORTABLE adj., IMPORTABLE adj.
`
`1
`
`(cid:638)A. adj.
`
`†1. Bearable, endurable; that can be tolerated. portable charge
`(also burden) (Sc.): a payment or service that is to be, or must be,
`rendered by every person or corporation liable for it. Obs.
`
`
`
`c1450(cid:638)(cid:638) Contin. Lydgate's Secrees (Sloane 2464) 2384 (MED),(cid:638)(cid:638) Dere sone..the hous of thy mynde be thy
`sogettys..ffroom velonye..Them to diffende to the is portable.
`c1460(cid:638)(cid:638) LYDGATE Fabula Duorum Mercatorum (Harl. 2255) 315 in Minor Poems (1934) II. 497 (MED),(cid:638)(cid:638)
`Drye tisyk is withal partable [read portable].
`1489(cid:638)(cid:638) in J. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1869) I. 57(cid:638)(cid:638) The outlandis folkis..hafand nother stob
`nor stake within this towne..nor yit beris sic portable chargis with tham as extentis and vtheris
`quhen thai occur.
`c1500(cid:638)(cid:638) Melusine (1895) 209(cid:638)(cid:638) To putte me to raisounable raunson & payement portable to me.
`1589–90(cid:638)(cid:638) in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1881) 1st Ser. IV. 452(cid:638)(cid:638) Fra all watcheing,..stent or
`contributioun, or beiring or sustening of ony uther portable chargeis.
`1608(cid:638)(cid:638) SHAKESPEARE King Lear xiii. 101(cid:638)(cid:638) How light and portable my paine seemes now.
`a1653(cid:638)(cid:638) H. BINNING Serm. (1845) 585(cid:638)(cid:638) The soul puts upon Him that unsupportable yoke of
`Transgressions, and takes from Him the portable yoke of His commandments.
`1689(cid:638)(cid:638) in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1889) II. 58(cid:638)(cid:638) He is ane burges of the burgh and hes borne
`portable burding with the remanent burgesses.
`1707(cid:638)(cid:638) W. BLACK Privileges of Royal Burrows v. §1 47(cid:638)(cid:638) None be chosen to be upon the Council but
`Magistrats [sic] and Craftsmen, actual and real Burgesses dwelling within the Town, and bearing
`all portable charges within the same.
`
`(cid:638)2.
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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`
`(cid:638)a. Capable of being carried by hand or on the person; capable of being
`moved from place to place; easily carried or conveyed. Also:
`(designating a device, apparatus, etc.) made smaller and lighter than
`normal, to enable it to be carried easily.
`
`
`
`1454–5(cid:638)(cid:638) Acct. in Berks., Bucks. & Oxon. Archaeol. Jrnl. (1903) 9 118 (MED),(cid:638)(cid:638) Item, for mendyng the
`portabil crucyfix at Corpus Xri day, ij s. iiij d.
`a1500 (cid:638)(▸?a1425) (cid:638)(cid:638) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 91(cid:638)(cid:638) Þat portable kynde..he þanne þat yn his name racys
`hit and berys it with hym clanly, he shal purchace reuerence and honour.
`1598(cid:638)(cid:638) A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. lf. xvi b/1(cid:638)(cid:638) The Instrumentes of a little portable case.
`1669(cid:638)(cid:638) S. STURMY Mariners Mag. V. xii. 49(cid:638)(cid:638) Very portable and fit for his Pocket.
`1730(cid:638)(cid:638) A. GORDON tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres 337(cid:638)(cid:638) Portable Forms or Benches.
`1787(cid:638)(cid:638) T. JEFFERSON Let. 30 Jan. in Papers (1955) XI. 97(cid:638)(cid:638) Having a great desire to have a portable copying
`machine, and being satisfied from some experiments that the principle of the large machine
`might be applied in a small one, I planned one when in England and had it made.
`1821(cid:638)(cid:638) J. Q. ADAMS in C. Davies Metric Syst. (1871) III. 200(cid:638)(cid:638) The pound weight should be a specific gravity
`easily portable about the person.
`1872(cid:638)(cid:638) J. YEATS Growth Commerce 50(cid:638)(cid:638) Holding property not in lands but portable goods.
`1913(cid:638)(cid:638) Wireless World Apr. p. xxxiv./2(cid:638)(cid:638) The hon. secretary showed some model Marconi apparatus and
`a portable set.
`1951(cid:638)(cid:638) Catal. Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival Brit. 128/2(cid:638)(cid:638) Portable radio..mains or battery.
`1995(cid:638)(cid:638) Sci. Amer. Sept. 53/2(cid:638)(cid:638) Portable telephones and other wireless devices are essentially miniature
`computers with some extra electronics to transmit and receive radio signals.
`
`(cid:638)b. Of a liquid substance: that may be carried or transported
`conveniently, having been reduced by evaporation to a dried or
`concentrated form able to be reconstituted later by the addition of
`water. Now hist.
`
`
`
`1594(cid:638)(cid:638) H. PLATT Jewell House III. 36(cid:638)(cid:638) A portable ynke to be caried in the forme of a powder in any paper,
`leather purse or boxe.
`1725(cid:638)(cid:638) E. STROTHER Ess. Sickness & Health (ed. 2) ii. 49(cid:638)(cid:638) Consider the fashionable and portable Soop,
`now in Use with the Quality.
`1747(cid:638)(cid:638) H. GLASSE Art of Cookery vi. 65(cid:638)(cid:638) To make Portable Soop..the Glew will be quite hard... When you
`use it, pour boiling Water on it.
`1775(cid:638)(cid:638) tr. Valuable Secrets Arts & Trades p. xxii,(cid:638)(cid:638) A portable ink, without gall-nut or vitriol... Another
`portable powder, to make ink instantly.
`1836(cid:638)(cid:638) W. IRVING Astoria II. 192(cid:638)(cid:638) Five pounds of portable soup, and a sufficient quantity of dried meat to
`allow each man a pittance of five pounds and a quarter.
`1849(cid:638)(cid:638) Punch 17 91/2(cid:638)(cid:638) We have all heard of ‘Portable Soup’... Now we have ‘Portable Milk’. A small jar of
`this solidified material, we are told, contains the equivalent of six gallons of fluid milk.
`1892(cid:638)(cid:638) Daily Citizen (Iowa City, Iowa) (Electronic text) 19 Aug.(cid:638)(cid:638) One ounce of ‘salep’, boiled with an
`equal quantity of the animal jelly known as portable soup, in two quarts of water, will suffice for
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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`the daily nourishment of an able-bodied man.
`1930(cid:638)(cid:638) R. V. BILLIS & A. S. KENYON Pastures New 94(cid:638)(cid:638) Even ‘soup’ made from colonial meat, was exported
`to England. This was in the form of dried or powdered meat, packed in tins. The idea came from
`Sydney, where the product was called ‘portable soup’, and in England it was termed
`‘concentrated gravy’.
`1961(cid:638)(cid:638) C. LLOYD Nation & Navy viii. 138(cid:638)(cid:638) Salt provisions caused scurvy, hence the importance of new
`methods of preserving food, notably portable soup (used by Cook) and canned meat, first issued
`in 1813.
`2003(cid:638)(cid:638) Manch. Guardian Weekly (Nexis) 27 Aug. 18(cid:638)(cid:638) It began with the Great Exhibition. Not all
`exhibits were aesthetic—they included preserved meat, ‘portable soup’, and ‘consolidated milk’.
`
`(cid:638)c. Of a building, bridge, etc.: not of a permanent construction; capable
`of being dismantled and re-erected elsewhere.
`
`
`
`1604(cid:638)(cid:638) G. DOWNAME Lect. XV Psalme 5(cid:638)(cid:638) A Tabernacle is a militarie mansion, and as it were a portable
`house which hath no fixed seat or setled place.
`1655(cid:638)(cid:638) W. GOUGE & T. GOUGE Learned Comm. Hebrewes (ix. 1) II. 300(cid:638)(cid:638) [The tabernacle] was a kind of
`portable Temple.
`1670(cid:638)(cid:638) H. OLDENBURG Let. Feb. in Corr. (1969) VI. 476(cid:638)(cid:638) Antiquity attributes..the Holy Utensils, fittest for
`a Portable Tabernacle, to Moses.
`1718(cid:638)(cid:638) J. OZELL tr. J. Pitton de Tournefort Voy. Levant I. 384(cid:638)(cid:638) Nothing surpriz'd me so much as these
`portable Houses; they are prodigiously magnificent.
`1773(cid:638)(cid:638) J. BENTHAM Let. 4 Dec. (1968) I. 174(cid:638)(cid:638) Estimates of portable Houses for East Florida as they call
`them at Carolina.
`1827(cid:638)(cid:638) E. GROSVENOR in G. Huxley Lady Elizabeth of Grosvenors (1965) vii. 140(cid:638)(cid:638) The artillery..was very
`finely appointed, with cannon and portable bridges.
`1860(cid:638)(cid:638) Players 1 v. 39 (advt.) (cid:638)(cid:638) Portable Theatres with scenery, Gas Fittings, &c. fitted up in town or
`country.
`1904(cid:638)(cid:638) Collier's 7 May 20/1 (advt.) (cid:638)(cid:638) M & M Portable Houses... Better built and better looking than you
`can have constructed at home and at much less cost.
`1955(cid:638)(cid:638) Sci. News Let. 5 Mar. 160/1(cid:638)(cid:638) Portable rink for outdoor ice skating makes this winter sport
`possible in some areas from April to November.
`1992(cid:638)(cid:638) Daily Tel. 24 July 4/4(cid:638)(cid:638) A stolen car was used to ram-raid a shop and a portable building was set
`alight.
`
`(cid:638)d. Computing. Of software: usable on different machines or on
`different systems; transferable from one machine or system to another.
`
`
`
`1971(cid:638)(cid:638) J. F. TRAUB in J. R. Rice Math. Software v. 136(cid:638)(cid:638) By portable software we mean that only small
`easily identifiable changes are necessary to transfer the software to a new environment.
`1984(cid:638)(cid:638) QL User Dec. 28(cid:638)(cid:638) As it is written mostly in machine-independent code, the system is
`extraordinarily portable.
`2001(cid:638)(cid:638) Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) (Nexis) 8 Jan.(cid:638)(cid:638) [He] has experience writing his own asset-
`management software. The difference this time is that he's making it fully portable, and useful
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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`across industry groups and even the military.
`
`†3. Of a river, lake, etc.: capable of carrying ships or boats; navigable.
`Obs.
`
`
`
`1580(cid:638)(cid:638) in Jrnl. Cork Hist. & Archaeol. Soc. (1893) 22/2(cid:638)(cid:638) Which Ryver is portable for a boate of two
`tunnes.
`1582(cid:638)(cid:638) in R. Hakluyt Diuers Voy. sig. K3,(cid:638)(cid:638) If you finde great plenty of tymber on the shore side or vpon
`any portable riuer.
`1602(cid:638)(cid:638) R. CECIL Let. 9 Aug. in Lett. Cecil to Carew (1864) 124(cid:638)(cid:638) Yf we find that it be neere any portable
`Ryver that may carry it to the sea.
`1685(cid:638)(cid:638) A. WOOD Life 23 Mar. III. 136(cid:638)(cid:638) A drie winter: no flood: waters very low, not portable.
`1714(cid:638)(cid:638) Bill for making River Neene Navigable 5(cid:638)(cid:638) Keeping the said River open, portable and passable, for
`Boats, Barges, Lighters and other Vessels, as any Commissioners of Sewers..are enabled to do in
`any other Rivers or Places.
`1761(cid:638)(cid:638) Act for making River Weaver Navigable 4(cid:638)(cid:638) To make the said River navigable, portable, and
`passable, for Boats, Barges, Lighters, and other Vessels, from..Frodsham-bridge to Winsford-
`bridge.
`
`(cid:638)4. fig.
`
`†a. Easy to carry in the memory; adapted for or easily employed in all
`circumstances. Obs.
`
`
`
`1655(cid:638)(cid:638) T. FULLER Church-hist. Brit. VII. 406(cid:638)(cid:638) These Psalms were therefore translated, to make them more
`portable in peoples memories.
`1711(cid:638)(cid:638) R. STEELE Spectator No. 100. ⁋4(cid:638)(cid:638) This portable Quality of Good-humour seasons all the Parts and
`Occurrences we meet with.
`
`(cid:638)b. Of a right, financial arrangement, piece of work, etc.: capable of
`being transferred or adapted in changed circumstances.
`See also portable pension n. at Special uses.
`
`
`
`1965(cid:638)(cid:638) Economist 13 Feb. 671(cid:638)(cid:638) Pension rights..should not be lost when an employee is sacked or moves
`to another firm; ideally they should be ‘portable’.
`1970(cid:638)(cid:638) A. CAMERON et al. Computers & Old Eng. Concordances 22(cid:638)(cid:638) The proposal never says..what care
`he's going to take to make sure that his work is portable, that his work really can be used by
`people at other institutions.
`2002(cid:638)(cid:638) Chicago Tribune 15 Sept. V. 3/1(cid:638)(cid:638) Unspent funds in the spending accounts can be retained by the
`employee and rolled over from year to year. That could allow healthy workers to create a portable
`savings account for medical expenses.
`
`†5. Portly. Obs. rare.
`
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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`
`1770(cid:638)(cid:638) R. CUMBERLAND Brothers II. ix. 23(cid:638)(cid:638) He..is a little peaking puling thing; I am a jolly portable man, as
`you see.
`
`(cid:638)B. n.
`
`(cid:638)1. In pl. Portable objects; belongings. Now rare.
`
`
`
`1708(cid:638)(cid:638) tr. M. Alemán Life Guzman d’Alfarache I. I. I. i. 11(cid:638)(cid:638) Having got all her Portables in a readiness, his
`next Business was to find an honest Christian Captain, who..might deliver him from his
`Apostacy, by transporting him to his own Country.
`1757(cid:638)(cid:638) T. HALE et al. Compl. Body Husbandry (new ed.) II. V. lxx. 209(cid:638)(cid:638) The cheap conveying of all Sorts
`of Portables from Place to Place on good Roads.
`1835(cid:638)(cid:638) A. B. LONGSTREET Georgia Scenes 197(cid:638)(cid:638) He had begun to pack up his portables, for removal to a
`more eligible station.
`1883(cid:638)(cid:638) J. HAY in Cent. Mag. Dec. 281/2,(cid:638)(cid:638) I don't doubt..but what we could pay ourselves well for the job,
`—spoil the 'Gyptians, you know,—forage on the enemy. Plenty of portables in them houses, eh!
`1924(cid:638)(cid:638) Times 5 May 11/3(cid:638)(cid:638) A new large ‘pochette’..has almost a ‘record’ number of sections for holding
`necessary ‘portables’—purse, cigarettes, lipstick among them.
`
`(cid:638)2. An appliance, device, or piece of machinery which is portable, esp. a
`compact electrical or electronic appliance which has its own power
`supply, enabling it to be carried and used anywhere; spec. a portable
`computer.
`
`
`
`1900(cid:638)(cid:638) Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 20 Dec. 5/6(cid:638)(cid:638) Gas and electric portables.
`1933(cid:638)(cid:638) Hearst's Internat. Mar. 101/2,(cid:638)(cid:638) I doubt if Mrs. Norris could type out a really good chapter on her
`rickety portable.
`1960(cid:638)(cid:638) Life 5 Dec. 8 (advt.) (cid:638)(cid:638) This is the new Motorola portable—forerunner of all TV to come and gift
`idea of a lifetime.
`1986(cid:638)(cid:638) Guardian 14 Apr. 22/5(cid:638)(cid:638) Portables should run for at least a few hours on batteries and be small
`enough to fit into a briefcase.
`1999(cid:638)(cid:638) BBC Music Mag. Apr. 59(cid:638)(cid:638) Tiny portables resist jogging.
`2001(cid:638)(cid:638) Business 2.0 Aug.–Sept. 206/3(cid:638)(cid:638) Some portables use touchpads for moving the cursor, while
`others use joystick nubbins embedded next to the keyboard's G key.
`
`
`
`SPECIAL USES
`
`(cid:638) (cid:638)
`
` portable classroom(cid:638) n. orig. U.S. a trailer or transportable
`prefabricated building used as a temporary classroom.
`
`1908(cid:638)(cid:638) Chicago Tribune 17 Oct. 1/4(cid:638)(cid:638) The poorer children of Chicago are being taught in basement rooms,
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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`in ‘portable’ classrooms, and in half day divisions.
`1929(cid:638)(cid:638) Bismarck (N. Dakota) Tribune 18 Sept. 3/6 (heading) (cid:638)(cid:638) University to raze portable classrooms.
`1994(cid:638)(cid:638) Inuit Art Q. Spring 44/3(cid:638)(cid:638) The Broughton Island Artists' Association has renovated a portable
`classroom.
`
`(cid:638) portable gas(cid:638) n. (originally) gas held in compressed form to facilitate
`its transport to gaslit premises (now hist.); (later) = bottled gas n. at
`BOTTLED adj. 3.
`
`1821(cid:638)(cid:638) Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 111 159(cid:638)(cid:638) Oil gas, when forcibly compressed in Gordon's portable gas
`lamp, deposits a portion of a highly volatile essential oil.
`1823(cid:638)(cid:638) Times 31 Jan. 3/7(cid:638)(cid:638) The first meeting of the subscribers to the London Portable Gas Company, for
`the purpose of distributing compressed gas..by means of Mr. Gordon's patent lamps, was held on
`Wednesday.
`1939(cid:638)(cid:638) Times 21 Aug. 13/7(cid:638)(cid:638) A portable gas in home cylinders meets every need of a household long
`accustomed to electricity.
`1975(cid:638)(cid:638) Times 27 Oct. 17/3 (headline) (cid:638)(cid:638) Portable gas expands into new markets.
`1993(cid:638)(cid:638) J. MCCORMICK Pop. Theatres Nineteenth-Cent. France iii. 50(cid:638)(cid:638) The new theatre..had more of the
`comfort and refinements of the theatres of the city, including gas lighting replacing the oil lamps.
`However, there was no mains gas, so portable gas had to be brought to the theatre regularly.
`
`(cid:638) portable media player(cid:638) n. any of various hand-held electronic
`devices for playing digital audio files or other types of digital media.
`
`
`
`
`
`1998(cid:638)(cid:638) Maximum PC Nov. 22(cid:638)(cid:638) Rio Portable Media Player, a credit-card-sized device that lets you listen to
`MP3 files anywhere.
`2012(cid:638)(cid:638) CNET.com (Nexis) 4 Apr.(cid:638)(cid:638) When it comes to portable media players, there's no product I could
`recommend more highly than an iPod Touch.
`
`(cid:638) portable pension(cid:638) n. a pension which may be transferred when an
`employee moves from one company to another (see sense A. 4b).
`
`
`
`1955(cid:638)(cid:638) Jrnl. Statist. Assoc. 50 624(cid:638)(cid:638) Such newer developments as investments in equities, portable
`pensions, [etc.].
`1965(cid:638)(cid:638) Times 27 Feb. p. iv/4(cid:638)(cid:638) This will give Quebec citizens a portable pension plan, valid anywhere in
`Canada.
`1996(cid:638)(cid:638) Independent 7 Feb. II. 11/4,(cid:638)(cid:638) I also started a number of pension plans in the late Eighties when the
`whole country was being pressurised into getting a portable pension.
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`portable, adj. and n. : Oxford English Dictionary
`
`This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006).
`
`Oxford University Press
`Copyright © 2016 Oxford University Press . All rights reserved.
`
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