All 4 Uses of
practicable
in
Moby Dick
- And this is the Bibliographical system here adopted; and it is the only one that can possibly succeed, for it alone is practicable.†
Chpt 31-33 *practicable = able to be done; or useful
- Tumbled into the water, it accordingly is in such cases; the spare coils of box line (mentioned in a preceding chapter) making this feat, in most instances, prudently practicable.†
Chpt 61-63
- The three corresponding new sails were now bent and reefed, and a storm-trysail was set further aft; so that the ship soon went through the water with some precision again; and the course—for the present, East-south-east—which he was to steer, if practicable, was once more given to the helmsman.†
Chpt 121-123
- Besides, the old man well knew that to steer by transpointed needles, though clumsily practicable, was not a thing to be passed over by superstitious sailors, without some shudderings and evil portents.†
Chpt 124-126
Definition:
capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are
or more rarely:
usable for a specific purpose
or more rarely:
usable for a specific purpose