portability (portabiliti)

[= F. portabi lité; By unscrewing the pillar, the whole is made to pack into a small flat case, the extreme portability of which is a great recommendation. W. B. Carpenter , Micros., § 43. portable (põr'ta-bl), a . [= F. portable = It. port a bile , portabilis , that may be carried, port are , carry: see port3 .] 1. Capable of being carried in the hand or about the person; capable of being carried or transported from place to place; easily carried or conveyed. In Wales where there are portable boats. made of leather. Sir T. Browne , Vulg. Err., ii. 3. They [poems] are caskets which inclose within a small compa the wealth of the language-its family jewels, which are thus transmitted in a portable form to posterity. Irving , Sketch-Book, p. 170. 24. Supportable; tolerable. How light and portable my pain seems now! Shak ., Lear, iii. 6. 115. 3t. Capable of carrying or transporting. If you find great plentie of tymber on the shore side, or vpon any portable riuer, you were best to cut downe of the same the first winter to be seasoned for ships, barkes, boates, and houses. Hakluyt's Voyages , III. 46. 4t. Acce ible (?). Had his designes beene to have perswaded men to a mine of gold; or some new Invention to pa e to the South Sea; or some strange plot to invade some strange Monastery or some portable Countrie, what multitudes of both people and mony would contend to be first imploied! Quoted in Capt . John Smith's Works, II. 264. Casella's portable anemometer. See anemometer. Portable boiler and furnace, a furnace mounted on wheels, used to heat tar or other material, as for paving or roofing.-Portable dial. See dial. - Portable gas, gas furnished to consumers in portable reservoirs which serve to supply small holders or tanks at the place of consumption.