Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Fit to be eaten; edible.
- noun Something fit to be eaten.
- noun Food.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Fit to be eaten; edible; proper for food; esculent.
- noun Anything that may be eaten; that which is fit for or used as food.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Capable of being eaten; fit to be eaten; proper for food; esculent; edible.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Able to be
eaten ;edible . - noun Anything edible
- noun in the plural
food
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any substance that can be used as food
- adjective suitable for use as food
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Our tomatoes and other vegetables, as well as those from our local farmers market, were not only edible ( "eatable" in his vernacular), but delicious.
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The former porter mentioned each successive kind of eatable, as if he were musingly summing up his good actions.
The Chimes 2007
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Our stomachs were nauseated at this giddy height, and, though we had almost every other kind of eatable and drinkable, our appetites craved only chocolate, which we could not obtain.
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That ought to be properly termed an eatable which is given away to a deserving man, in all other cases, he that takes it makes the donor's gift thrown away and the receiver is likewise ruined for his improperly accepting it.
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 Books 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli
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In many of them we saw fires, and in some of them observed that kind of eatable to which they give the name of cabra.
The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson With the journal of her first commander Lieutenant James Grant Ida Lee 1904
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It is what I should call a most uninteresting kind of eatable, but it serves as food and drink, having juice enough, so that they get along without water.
Over the Teacups Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
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It is what I should call a most uninteresting kind of eatable, but it serves as food and drink, having juice enough, so that they get along without water.
Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
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The former porter mentioned each successive kind of eatable, as if he were musingly summing up his good actions.
The Chimes 1844
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The former porter mentioned each successive kind of eatable, as if he were musingly summing up his good actions.
The Chimes Charles Dickens 1841
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In the interests of scientific thoroughness, we had four small eats and one antipasto between two adults and a 12-year-old, and they ranged from the good (marinated octopus, chicken liver crostini) to the sublime: prosciutto so delicate it was, according to my son, "like air", a compulsively eatable dish of fried courgettes, and a sensationally good stew of squid, potatoes, chickpeas and chilli.
Restaurant: Tinello, London SW1 John Lanchester 2010
erinmckean commented on the word eatable
If something is edible, you can eat it (and won't die), if something is eatable you actually WANT to eat it.
January 8, 2015