English

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Etymology

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First attested in 1650–1660[1]: from Latin alibilis[1][2], from alō (feed, nourish) + -ibilis (-ible).[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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alible (comparative more alible, superlative most alible)

  1. Nourishing.[1][2][3]
    • 1827: The North American Medical and Surgical Journal — “Analytical Reviews”, volume 3, January–April 1827, p338 (J. Dobson); quoting, as ARTICLE IX — A Treatise on Physiology applied to Pathology, by F. J. V. Broussais, M.D., &c. &c., translated from the French by John Bell, M.D., &c. & René La Roche, M.D., &c. (1826, H. C. Carey & I. Lea)
      “ […] Alible substances, of the most healthy kind, may then generate the same evils as would follow from a deficiency of food.”
    • 1847: William Harvey, Works: “On Generation” (EXERCISE THE SEVENTY-SECOND) — “Of the Primigenial moisture”, p514 (Sydenham Society)
      I say the ultimate aliment, called dew by the Arabians, with which all the parts of the body are bathed and moistened. For in the same way as this dew, by ulterior condensation and adhesion, becomes alible gluten and cambium, whence the parts of the body are constituted, so, mutatis mutandis, in the commencement of generation and nutrition, from gluten liquefied and rendered thinner is formed the nutritious dew : from the white of the egg is produced the colliquament under discussion, the radical moisture and primigenial dew.

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1·1)
  2. 2.0 2.1 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
  3. ^ The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary

Anagrams

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