Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Able?

\A"ble\, a. [Comp. {Abler}; superl. {Ablest}.] [OF. habile, L. habilis that may be easily held or managed, apt, skillful, fr. habere to have, hold. Cf. {Habile} and see {Habit}.] 1. Fit; adapted; suitable. [Obs.] A many man, to ben an abbot able. --Chaucer. 2. Having sufficient power, strength, force, skill, means, or resources of any kind to accomplish the object; possessed of qualifications rendering competent for some end; competent; qualified; capable; as, an able workman, soldier, seaman, a man able to work; a mind able to reason; a person able to be generous; able to endure pain; able to play on a piano. 3. Specially: Having intellectual qualifications, or strong mental powers; showing ability or skill; talented; clever; powerful; as, the ablest man in the senate; an able speech. No man wrote abler state papers. --Macaulay. 4. (Law) Legally qualified; possessed of legal competence; as, able to inherit or devise property. Note: {Able for}, is Scotticism. ``Hardly able for such a march.'' --Robertson. Syn: Competent; qualified; fitted; efficient; effective; capable; skillful; clever; vigorous; powerful.
\A"ble\, v. t. [See {Able}, a.] [Obs.] 1. To make able; to enable; to strengthen. --Chaucer. 2. To vouch for. ``I 'll able them.'' --Shak.
\-a*ble\ (-[.a]*b'l). [F. -able, L. -abilis.] An adjective suffix now usually in a passive sense; able to be; fit to be; expressing capacity or worthiness in a passive sense; as, movable, able to be moved; amendable, able to be amended; blamable, fit to be blamed; salable. Note: The form {-ible} is used in the same sense. Note: It is difficult to say when we are not to use -able instead of -ible. ``Yet a rule may be laid down as to when we are to use it. To all verbs, then, from the Anglo-Saxon, to all based on the uncorrupted infinitival stems of Latin verbs of the first conjugation, and to all substantives, whencesoever sprung, we annex -able only.'' --Fitzed. Hall.