colourablecolorableadj.

Brit.

/ˈkʌl(ə)rəbl/, U.S.

/ˈkələrəb(ə)l/

Forms: Middle English colourabill, Middle English–1600s coulourable, Middle English– colorable (now chiefly U.S.), Middle English– colourable, 1500s collorable, 1500s coullourable (Scottish), 1500s coulorable, 1500s cullerable.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French colorable, coulourable.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman colorable, colourable, collourable deceitful (1376 or earlier) and Middle French coulourable capable of being presented favourably, plausible (1398; compare Old French colorable colourful (late 12th cent. in an apparently isolated attestation) and also French colorable that can be coloured (1873)) < colorer colour v. + -able -able suffix. Compare post-classical Latin colorabilis (in music) chromatic (5th cent.), specious (14th cent. in a British source).

a. Having an appearance of truth or trustworthiness; plausible; reasonable; (esp. in early use) specious. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adjective]

fairOE

seeming1340

feignedc1374

colourablea1400

whitea1413

coloured?c1425

satiablec1487

provable1588

specious1611

well-seeminga1616

superficial1616

meretricious1633

glosseda1640

probable1639

spurious1646

fucatious1654

ostensible1762

well-looking1811

semblant1840

a1400 [see colourably adv. 1].

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 536 Ech colorable argument.

a1450 (a1397) Prol. Old Test. in Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Cambr. Mm.2.15) (1850) xv. 58 Thouȝ this replicacioun seme colourable, it hath no good ground.

a1500 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Rawl.) (1974) 198 (MED) Vndir colourable shewing of trouthe thei haue brought vs into this deepe derkenesse.

1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 28 For al his cullerable prætens to the contrari.

1633 Bp. J. Hall Plaine Explic. Hard Texts i. 509 By faire, and colourable treaties.

1653 L. Andrewes Learned Disc. Ceremonies 74 It is more then colourable that the Heathen Brittans our Ancestors afore the time of Iulius Caesar, paid Tythes to their Priests and Druides.

1710 H. Bond Vanity of Youth 37 I can't see how that Famous Heathen Tully could have acquitted himself..unless he had taken off the odium of his assertion, by giving the World this colourable reason for it.

1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. cvi. 205 Scandalous reports of her misconduct, to which the empty pretensions of a vain, wretched coxcomb..gave a colourable pretext, were trumped up.

1755 H. McCulloh Wisdom & Policy of French ii. 68 The Board cannot admit of any Deviations in the Governors or Intendants, or admit them to offer any colourable Pleas or Pretences in excuse for their Conduct.

1825 J. M. Good Stud. Med. (ed. 2) V. 480 A few singular facts which have occurred since the decease of both these writers, seem at first sight to give it a little colourable support.

1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory iv. 129 Assertions of absolutism were remarkably rare; although one reading of Ulpian's lex regia text..would have made them colourable.

b. Chiefly Law. Capable of being presented as true or valid; having at least a prima facie appearance of justice or legality. Cf. colour n.¹ 7.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > dueness or propriety > [adjective] > claiming > claimed > shown to have merit > able to be

colourablec1443

c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 70 (MED) If oure vndirstonding and resoun haue toward eny partie myche colourable skilis and myche likly evidencis, he may..holde þilk partie as for trewe til he heere strengir tidyngis to þe contrarie.

1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iii. xxiii. f. 251 If there be any eyther iuste or colorable complaynt, it toucheth predestination.

1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 396 One sentence..cann not be found, to make those their Pardons Justifiable or coulorable.

1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 210 They did also vexe men with Informations of Intrusion vpon scarce colourable Titles.

1659 B. Walton Considerator Considered 243 Arguments, to which he could give no colourable answer.

1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 248 If the mother was never married to the father, such bastard could have no colourable title at all.

1785 T. Jefferson Let. 14 Aug. in Papers (1953) VIII. 376 The inclosed paper..is the only colourable evidence of this.

1830 T. De Quincey Life R. Bentley in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 452/1 Colourable grounds of complaint.

1878 E. White Life in Christ (ed. 3) iii. xxi. 302 No even colourable escape from this criticism seems possible.

1889 Aberdeen Weekly Jrnl. 27 Aug. 3/6 There is no doubt that this is a colourable plea, and indeed it has a very practical force in view of the judgement which the Court pronounced.

1925 Amer. Mercury Feb. 168/2 There were statutes, passed during and after the Civil War, which gave Cleveland colorable authority to send troops into Illinois without the request.

1992 N. Morris Brothel Boy 240 I believe that Dr. Veraswami has a more than colourable argument that his purchase of the heroin was not illegal.

a. Intended to deceive or to conceal a true purpose; fraudulent; feigned, pretended, spurious. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > [adjective]

fainta1340

counterfeit1393

pretense1395

feinta1400

feigned1413

disguisyc1430

colourable1433

pretending1434

simulate1435

dissimuled1475

simulative1490

coloureda1500

dissimulate?a1500

simuled1526

colorate1528

dissembled1539

mock1548

devised1552

pretended?1553

artificial1564

supposed1566

counterfeited1569

supposing?1574

affecteda1586

pretensive1607

false1609

supposite1611

simulara1616

simulatory1618

simulated1622

put-ona1625

ironic1631

ironical1646

devisable1659

pretensional1659

pretenced1660

pretensory1663

vizarded1663

shammed?c1677

sham1681

faux1684

fictitious1739

ostensible1762

made-up1773

mala fide1808

assumed1813

semblative1814

fictioned1820

pretextual1837

pseudo1854

fictive1855

schlenter1881

faked1890

phoney1893

phantom1897

1433 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. July 1433 §51. m. 4 By colourable sotiltees soche brocours aliens..maken many eschaunges betwene merchaunt and merchaunt.

a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 7 He fonde colourabill wais to serve his entent.

c1503 ( Complaynte Duke of Glouceter in R. Arnold Chron. f. cx/2 A feyned colourable peas.

1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 2 Preamble To be removed..by colorable and untrew suggestions.

1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1954/1 I wyll vse no colourable or couert wordes.

1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 4 a They tooke him for a counterfeit or colourable practiser.

1659 R. Brathwait Panthalia 71 She pretends love, where she meanes not to place it: and under a colourable profession, to present a Face of love, where she never intends to bestow it.

1690 Def. Rights & Priviledges Univ. Oxf. 49 The said University..have fraudulently..granted colourable priviledges to divers members of the city.

1705 S. Grascome Moderation in Fashion vii. 161 It is with some Men a great piece of Art..by all colourable means to disguise the matter in Controversie; and then to flourish with pretended Reasonings.

1714 E. Chandler Serm. Preach'd at Worcester 5th Nov. 8 The Papal Monarchy..may dissemble it sometimes, under the colorable Names of a Spiritual, and a mixt Power.

1798 A. J. Dallas Rep. Cases U.S. & Pennsylvania 2 381 The conveyance..was..colorable and collusive.

1857 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem (1858) I. ix. 31 On pretences entirely colourable and false.

1886 Times 24 Feb. 4/1 A case of bribery by colourable employment.

1989 G. Hogan & C. Walker Polit. Violence & Law in Ireland iii. ix. 196 The..arrest was simply a colourable device to permit the accused to be interrogated on a murder charge.

b. Of a legal or official document, esp. a ship's papers: drawn up in a deceptive or designedly ambiguous form. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > faking of documents > [adjective] > of ship's papers

colourable1661

1661 J. Godolphin Συνηγορος Θαλασσιος Introd. a 6 He may not carry counterfeit Cocquets or other Fictitious and Colourable Ship-papers to involve the Goods of the Innocent with the Nocent.

1753 Duke of Newcastle Let. 8 Feb. in N. Magens Ess. Insurances (1755) I. 488 If there be false or colourable Papers,..the Law of Nations allows..Costs to be paid, or not to be received, by the Claimant.

1818 J. Adolphus Polit. State Brit. Empire III. 195 No more must be taken on board, than the ship can conveniently carry..; nor any contraband goods; nor false or colourable papers, that may subject the ship to capture or detention.

1839 Adventures Attorney in Search of Pract. xiv. 201 Colourable bills of sale, to defeat the executions of just creditors.

1936 C. J. Kulsrud Maritime Neutrality to 1780 iv. 199 Some ships sailed under colorable bills of lading and for illegal charter parties.

1980 J. Goebel Law Pract. A. Hamilton I. i. iii. 132 The recovery, based on a fraudulent, colorable bill of sale, was termed by Lord Mansfield ‘against law and justice’.

3. Of language or literary style: full of poetic or rhetorical ornaments; flowery, ornate. Cf. colour n.¹ 15, coloured adj. 5. rare after 16th cent.In quot. 1550 with implications of misrepresentation; cf. sense 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > ornamental

colourable1550

1550 T. Nicolls in tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War Ded. f. iii They bestowed theyr laboure, more in adournynge, garnyshinge and fylyng of theyr woordes..some other also..haue by theyr colourable wrytynge and with immoderate flattery extolled hystoryes very base.

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Gracilitas Exigere gracilitatem stylo. Quintil. To write a lowe stile with out colourable amplifications.

1913 M. Peterson Lure of Little Drum (end matter) The present story is written in a sweeping, dramatic, intensive, and colorable style commensurate with the big issues of life that the characters confront.

†4. Having a colour or colours; (also) colourful. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > state or mode of having colour > [adjective] > colourful

prankedc1550

colourable1607

coloury1721

colourful1848

chromatic1864

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 101 The coulourable spots are wrought in fashion of a fishers net.

?1706 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft: 2nd Pt. v. 49 A Fortnights time, shall make it [sc. the moon] as good, as colourable, and as round again, as any Cheese.

5. That may be coloured; intended for colouring.

ΚΠ

1800 R. Heron Elem. Chem. vii. iii. 265 It [sc. tunstic acid] is easily colourable by combustible bodies.

1855 Chemist 2 433 Other granules, likewise colorable with iodine, were swelled, deformed, exfoliated as if they had been subjected to the action of boiling water.

1901 C. A. L. Reed Text-bk. Gynecol. xxxiv. 528 Small rods much more slender than the colon bacillus, immovable, colourable by Gram's method, and of variable length.

1953 A. G. E. Pearse Histochem. vi. 115 No component colourable with pyronin remained.

1967 O. Ore Four-color Probl. xi. 168 The graph..is colorable in essentially one way.

1983 V. F. Elbert Orchids of World Coloring Bk. (back cover) You'll find excellent, colorable drawings of..exotic specimens.

2008 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 14 Sept. d8 Birding for Children..is lavishly illustrated with Cockrell's professionally produced pictures and de Goutiere's colourable species drawings.

Compounds

colourable imitation n. the fact of one thing resembling another so closely that it may cause confusion or ambiguity, esp. with regard to potential infringement of a trademark.

ΚΠ

1811 J. Montefiore Amer. Trader's Compend. 122 Literary productions, original engravings, or musical compositions are so effectually secured and defined, that every individual guilty of servilely copying, or colourable imitation, to defraud either the author or the artist, subjects himself to the penalties of those laws, which protect the incorporial rights of genius and literature.

1926 ‘N. Shute’ Marazan i. 14 Collard was trying the effect of various pigments in an endeavour to turn it into such a colourable imitation of good oil as to catch some poor simp up from the country.

2006 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press (Nexis) 16 Apr. b5 The candy..‘is confusingly similar to, and a colorable imitation of’ the federally registered Kiss trademark.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	colourable
释义	colourablecolorableadj. Brit. /ˈkʌl(ə)rəbl/, U.S. /ˈkələrəb(ə)l/ Forms: Middle English colourabill, Middle English–1600s coulourable, Middle English– colorable (now chiefly U.S.), Middle English– colourable, 1500s collorable, 1500s coullourable (Scottish), 1500s coulorable, 1500s cullerable. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French colorable, coulourable. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman colorable, colourable, collourable deceitful (1376 or earlier) and Middle French coulourable capable of being presented favourably, plausible (1398; compare Old French colorable colourful (late 12th cent. in an apparently isolated attestation) and also French colorable that can be coloured (1873)) < colorer colour v. + -able -able suffix. Compare post-classical Latin colorabilis (in music) chromatic (5th cent.), specious (14th cent. in a British source). 1. a. Having an appearance of truth or trustworthiness; plausible; reasonable; (esp. in early use) specious. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [adjective] fairOE seeming1340 feignedc1374 colourablea1400 whitea1413 coloured?c1425 satiablec1487 provable1588 specious1611 well-seeminga1616 superficial1616 meretricious1633 glosseda1640 probable1639 spurious1646 fucatious1654 ostensible1762 well-looking1811 semblant1840 a1400 [see colourably adv. 1]. c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 536 Ech colorable argument. a1450 (a1397) Prol. Old Test. in Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Cambr. Mm.2.15) (1850) xv. 58 Thouȝ this replicacioun seme colourable, it hath no good ground. a1500 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Rawl.) (1974) 198 (MED) Vndir colourable shewing of trouthe thei haue brought vs into this deepe derkenesse. 1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 28 For al his cullerable prætens to the contrari. 1633 Bp. J. Hall Plaine Explic. Hard Texts i. 509 By faire, and colourable treaties. 1653 L. Andrewes Learned Disc. Ceremonies 74 It is more then colourable that the Heathen Brittans our Ancestors afore the time of Iulius Caesar, paid Tythes to their Priests and Druides. 1710 H. Bond Vanity of Youth 37 I can't see how that Famous Heathen Tully could have acquitted himself..unless he had taken off the odium of his assertion, by giving the World this colourable reason for it. 1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. cvi. 205 Scandalous reports of her misconduct, to which the empty pretensions of a vain, wretched coxcomb..gave a colourable pretext, were trumped up. 1755 H. McCulloh Wisdom & Policy of French ii. 68 The Board cannot admit of any Deviations in the Governors or Intendants, or admit them to offer any colourable Pleas or Pretences in excuse for their Conduct. 1825 J. M. Good Stud. Med. (ed. 2) V. 480 A few singular facts which have occurred since the decease of both these writers, seem at first sight to give it a little colourable support. 1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory iv. 129 Assertions of absolutism were remarkably rare; although one reading of Ulpian's lex regia text..would have made them colourable. b. Chiefly Law. Capable of being presented as true or valid; having at least a prima facie appearance of justice or legality. Cf. colour n.¹ 7. ΘΚΠ society > morality > dueness or propriety > [adjective] > claiming > claimed > shown to have merit > able to be colourablec1443 c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 70 (MED) If oure vndirstonding and resoun haue toward eny partie myche colourable skilis and myche likly evidencis, he may..holde þilk partie as for trewe til he heere strengir tidyngis to þe contrarie. 1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iii. xxiii. f. 251 If there be any eyther iuste or colorable complaynt, it toucheth predestination. 1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 396 One sentence..cann not be found, to make those their Pardons Justifiable or coulorable. 1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 210 They did also vexe men with Informations of Intrusion vpon scarce colourable Titles. 1659 B. Walton Considerator Considered 243 Arguments, to which he could give no colourable answer. 1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 248 If the mother was never married to the father, such bastard could have no colourable title at all. 1785 T. Jefferson Let. 14 Aug. in Papers (1953) VIII. 376 The inclosed paper..is the only colourable evidence of this. 1830 T. De Quincey Life R. Bentley in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 452/1 Colourable grounds of complaint. 1878 E. White Life in Christ (ed. 3) iii. xxi. 302 No even colourable escape from this criticism seems possible. 1889 Aberdeen Weekly Jrnl. 27 Aug. 3/6 There is no doubt that this is a colourable plea, and indeed it has a very practical force in view of the judgement which the Court pronounced. 1925 Amer. Mercury Feb. 168/2 There were statutes, passed during and after the Civil War, which gave Cleveland colorable authority to send troops into Illinois without the request. 1992 N. Morris Brothel Boy 240 I believe that Dr. Veraswami has a more than colourable argument that his purchase of the heroin was not illegal. 2. a. Intended to deceive or to conceal a true purpose; fraudulent; feigned, pretended, spurious. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > [adjective] fainta1340 counterfeit1393 pretense1395 feinta1400 feigned1413 disguisyc1430 colourable1433 pretending1434 simulate1435 dissimuled1475 simulative1490 coloureda1500 dissimulate?a1500 simuled1526 colorate1528 dissembled1539 mock1548 devised1552 pretended?1553 artificial1564 supposed1566 counterfeited1569 supposing?1574 affecteda1586 pretensive1607 false1609 supposite1611 simulara1616 simulatory1618 simulated1622 put-ona1625 ironic1631 ironical1646 devisable1659 pretensional1659 pretenced1660 pretensory1663 vizarded1663 shammed?c1677 sham1681 faux1684 fictitious1739 ostensible1762 made-up1773 mala fide1808 assumed1813 semblative1814 fictioned1820 pretextual1837 pseudo1854 fictive1855 schlenter1881 faked1890 phoney1893 phantom1897 1433 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. July 1433 §51. m. 4 By colourable sotiltees soche brocours aliens..maken many eschaunges betwene merchaunt and merchaunt. a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 7 He fonde colourabill wais to serve his entent. c1503 ( Complaynte Duke of Glouceter in R. Arnold Chron. f. cx/2 A feyned colourable peas. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 2 Preamble To be removed..by colorable and untrew suggestions. 1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1954/1 I wyll vse no colourable or couert wordes. 1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 4 a They tooke him for a counterfeit or colourable practiser. 1659 R. Brathwait Panthalia 71 She pretends love, where she meanes not to place it: and under a colourable profession, to present a Face of love, where she never intends to bestow it. 1690 Def. Rights & Priviledges Univ. Oxf. 49 The said University..have fraudulently..granted colourable priviledges to divers members of the city. 1705 S. Grascome Moderation in Fashion vii. 161 It is with some Men a great piece of Art..by all colourable means to disguise the matter in Controversie; and then to flourish with pretended Reasonings. 1714 E. Chandler Serm. Preach'd at Worcester 5th Nov. 8 The Papal Monarchy..may dissemble it sometimes, under the colorable Names of a Spiritual, and a mixt Power. 1798 A. J. Dallas Rep. Cases U.S. & Pennsylvania 2 381 The conveyance..was..colorable and collusive. 1857 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem (1858) I. ix. 31 On pretences entirely colourable and false. 1886 Times 24 Feb. 4/1 A case of bribery by colourable employment. 1989 G. Hogan & C. Walker Polit. Violence & Law in Ireland iii. ix. 196 The..arrest was simply a colourable device to permit the accused to be interrogated on a murder charge. b. Of a legal or official document, esp. a ship's papers: drawn up in a deceptive or designedly ambiguous form. Now historical. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > faking of documents > [adjective] > of ship's papers colourable1661 1661 J. Godolphin Συνηγορος Θαλασσιος Introd. a 6 He may not carry counterfeit Cocquets or other Fictitious and Colourable Ship-papers to involve the Goods of the Innocent with the Nocent. 1753 Duke of Newcastle Let. 8 Feb. in N. Magens Ess. Insurances (1755) I. 488 If there be false or colourable Papers,..the Law of Nations allows..Costs to be paid, or not to be received, by the Claimant. 1818 J. Adolphus Polit. State Brit. Empire III. 195 No more must be taken on board, than the ship can conveniently carry..; nor any contraband goods; nor false or colourable papers, that may subject the ship to capture or detention. 1839 Adventures Attorney in Search of Pract. xiv. 201 Colourable bills of sale, to defeat the executions of just creditors. 1936 C. J. Kulsrud Maritime Neutrality to 1780 iv. 199 Some ships sailed under colorable bills of lading and for illegal charter parties. 1980 J. Goebel Law Pract. A. Hamilton I. i. iii. 132 The recovery, based on a fraudulent, colorable bill of sale, was termed by Lord Mansfield ‘against law and justice’. 3. Of language or literary style: full of poetic or rhetorical ornaments; flowery, ornate. Cf. colour n.¹ 15, coloured adj. 5. rare after 16th cent.In quot. 1550 with implications of misrepresentation; cf. sense 1. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > ornamental colourable1550 1550 T. Nicolls in tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War Ded. f. iii They bestowed theyr laboure, more in adournynge, garnyshinge and fylyng of theyr woordes..some other also..haue by theyr colourable wrytynge and with immoderate flattery extolled hystoryes very base. 1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Gracilitas Exigere gracilitatem stylo. Quintil. To write a lowe stile with out colourable amplifications. 1913 M. Peterson Lure of Little Drum (end matter) The present story is written in a sweeping, dramatic, intensive, and colorable style commensurate with the big issues of life that the characters confront. †4. Having a colour or colours; (also) colourful. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > state or mode of having colour > [adjective] > colourful prankedc1550 colourable1607 coloury1721 colourful1848 chromatic1864 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 101 The coulourable spots are wrought in fashion of a fishers net. ?1706 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft: 2nd Pt. v. 49 A Fortnights time, shall make it [sc. the moon] as good, as colourable, and as round again, as any Cheese. 5. That may be coloured; intended for colouring. ΚΠ 1800 R. Heron Elem. Chem. vii. iii. 265 It [sc. tunstic acid] is easily colourable by combustible bodies. 1855 Chemist 2 433 Other granules, likewise colorable with iodine, were swelled, deformed, exfoliated as if they had been subjected to the action of boiling water. 1901 C. A. L. Reed Text-bk. Gynecol. xxxiv. 528 Small rods much more slender than the colon bacillus, immovable, colourable by Gram's method, and of variable length. 1953 A. G. E. Pearse Histochem. vi. 115 No component colourable with pyronin remained. 1967 O. Ore Four-color Probl. xi. 168 The graph..is colorable in essentially one way. 1983 V. F. Elbert Orchids of World Coloring Bk. (back cover) You'll find excellent, colorable drawings of..exotic specimens. 2008 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 14 Sept. d8 Birding for Children..is lavishly illustrated with Cockrell's professionally produced pictures and de Goutiere's colourable species drawings. Compounds colourable imitation n. the fact of one thing resembling another so closely that it may cause confusion or ambiguity, esp. with regard to potential infringement of a trademark. ΚΠ 1811 J. Montefiore Amer. Trader's Compend. 122 Literary productions, original engravings, or musical compositions are so effectually secured and defined, that every individual guilty of servilely copying, or colourable imitation, to defraud either the author or the artist, subjects himself to the penalties of those laws, which protect the incorporial rights of genius and literature. 1926 ‘N. Shute’ Marazan i. 14 Collard was trying the effect of various pigments in an endeavour to turn it into such a colourable imitation of good oil as to catch some poor simp up from the country. 2006 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press (Nexis) 16 Apr. b5 The candy..‘is confusingly similar to, and a colorable imitation of’ the federally registered Kiss trademark. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.a1400
随便看	fibroso-calcareous fibroso-cartilaginous fibrosocalcareous fibrosocartilaginous fibrotic fibrous fibrous dysplasia fibrous grass fibrous tissue fibrous tumour fibrous-rooted fibrouser fibrousest fibrously fibrousness fibrousnesses fibrousrooted fibrousser fibroussest fibrovascular fibrovascular bundle fibry fibs fibster fibsters