Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of being approached or come at; that may be reached, attained, or procured.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective easily accessible

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective capable of being attained or accomplished
  • adjective capable of being reached or attained

Etymologies

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Examples

  • After these came a second set; among the most come-at-able of whom were Mr.. and Miss Bates, and Mr.. Goddard, three ladies almost always at the service of an invitation from Hartfield, and who were fetched and carried home so often, that Mr. Woodhouse thought it no hardship for either James or the horses.

    Emma Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 2001

  • The next evening, two hampers, containing, as our purveyor assured us, "very prime 'uns," arrived at my rooms "from Mr S----, the wine merchant;" and, by daylight on the following morning, were judiciously distributed throughout all the come-at-able premises within the college walls.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843 Various

  • Poor girl! she was barely fifteen, and without this consent her little amount in the funds was not come-at-able until five immeasurable summers had "dragged their slow length along."

    Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 Charles Herbert Sylvester

  • Hobson's choice, as water was not to be found anywhere else at a come-at-able distance.

    Forty-one years in India From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief Frederick Sleigh Roberts

  • But the old knight, look you, is not come-at-able.

    Robin Hood 1917

  • It is come-at-able from Cork by train to Bantry and then coach, or by coach from Killarney or Kenmare.

    The Sunny Side of Ireland How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway Robert Lloyd Praeger 1909

  • The objection to it is obvious: you do not rely a thing; therefore the thing cannot be reliable; it should be rely-on-able (like come-at-able).

    Formations. 1908

  • Some are fishing, others are pitching pennies, others, again, playing various apparently harmless games, but all with eyes for the main chance -- an opportunity to steal anything come-at-able.

    Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations The Veil Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its Causes, and Criminals and their Haunts. Facts and Disclosures. Abraham H. Hummel 1887

  • The bulk of the passengers 'luggage had been shipped in dock, and passed down into the after-hold upon the top of the cargo, in order that it might be out of the way but easily come-at-able if required during the voyage; each one, however, as he or she came up the ship's side and stepped in on deck, bore in his or her hand one or more bundles of wraps, deck-chairs, and other _impedimenta_.

    The Pirate Island A Story of the South Pacific Harry Collingwood 1886

  • Accordingly, while Chips and Sails again undertook to climb the cliff and procure some bananas for breakfast, Cunningham and I, accompanied by the boatswain -- who seemed, after a good night's rest, to be little the worse for the happenings of the previous day -- agreed to wade off and board the wreck, with the view of securing such weapons and ammunition as were come-at-able, and had not been spoiled by sea water.

    Turned Adrift Harry Collingwood 1886

Comments

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  • "Shelmerston water was the best south of the Thames for going far foreign, but it was not easily come-at-able and in his absence the Surprises must have made many a weary voyage in the boats."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 139

    February 29, 2008