portable
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbəl/
ipa: /ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbl̩/
ipa: /ˈpɔɹtəbəl/
ipa: /ˈpɔɹtəbl̩/
ipa: [ˈpʰɔɹɾɪ̈bl̩]
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)təbəl
Forms: form: more portable
form: most portable
Etymology: From Middle English portable, from Middle French portable and Latin portābilis. By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -able.
Senses: glosses: Able to be carried or easily moved.
examples: text: a portable pension plan
text: Even though Houston’s moment was already fading by the late 2000s, the city’s hip-hop culture proved to be endlessly portable and disseminatable.
ref: 2015 August 9, Jon Caramanica, “Pimp C in a Journalist’s Back Pages”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 01 Nov 2021:
glosses: Able to be transferred from one organization to another.
examples: text: How do Java and C# create cross-platform, portable programs, and why can't C++ do the same?
ref: 2012, Herbert Schildt, C++: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition, page 6:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Of software: able to be run on multiple hardware or operating systems.
examples: text: Starting with release 1.7, a portable version allows all Host Attachment Kit commands to be run without installing the Host Attachment Kit.
ref: 2014, Bertrand Dufrasne, Bruce Allworth, Desire Brival, IBM XIV Storage System: Host Attachment and Interoperability, page 10:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Of a program: able to be copied directly from one machine to another without the use of an installer.
examples: text: How light and portable my paine ſeemes now, / When that which makes me bend, makes the King bow.
ref: c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], signature [G4], verso:
text: Christianity consists in a blessed exchange of yokes between Christ and a pious soul. He takes our uneasy yoke, and gives his easy yoke: the soul puts upon him that unsupportable yoke of transgressions, and takes from him the portable yoke of his commandments.
ref: a. 1654, Hugh Binning, “Sermon VIII. Matt[hew] xi. 29.—Take my yoke upon you, &c.”, in James Cochrane, editor, The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning: […] (Select Library of Scottish Divines: […]; III), volume III, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co. […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 244:
text: It was also objected against John Chrystie in Spittell that he not being ane residenter within this burgh could not vote. To quhich it was answered that he is ane burges of the burgh and hes borne portable burding with the remanent burgesses these xxiiij yeares bygone.
ref: 1689, R[obert] Renwick, editor, Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling. A.D. 1667-1752. […], Glasgow: […] [T]he Glasgow Stirlingshire and Sons of the Rock Society, published 1889, →OCLC, page 58:
text: [N]one be choſen to be upon the Council but Magiſtrats and Craftſmen, actual and real Burgeſſes dwelling within the Town, and bearing all portable charges within the ſame; […]
ref: 1707, W[illiam] B[lack], “Sect[ion] I. Anent Their Regulating Elections within the Burgh.”, in The Privileges of the Royal Burrows […], Edinburgh: […] [T]he Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, […], →OCLC, chapter V (Of the Constitution of the Convention of Burrows, and Their Privileges), page 47:
glosses: Bearable, endurable.
Synonyms: word: loose
word: mobile
word: movable
word: portable
word: shiftable
word: transportable
Derived terms: airportable
hand-portable
heliportable
man-portable
nonportable
portability
portabilization
portable art
portable executable
portableness
portable stove
portably
portafilter
portaledge
porta-potty
semiportable
superportable
ultraportable
unportable
Related terms: word: hand-held
word: transportable
word: move