Capable of being borne or carried; easily transported; conveyed without difficulty; as, a portable bed, desk, engine. South. [1913 Webster]
Possible to be endured; supportable. [1913 Webster]
"How light and portable my pain seems now!" [1913 Webster]

Portable forge. See under Forge. -- Portable steam engine. See under Steam engine.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

Portable, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 easily movable, convenient for carrying (portable TV; portable computer).
2 (of a right, privilege, etc.) capable of being transferred or adapted in altered circumstances (portable pension).
--n. a portable object, e.g. a radio, typewriter, etc. (decided to buy a portable).

Derivative

portability n. portableness n. portably adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF portable or LL portabilis f. L portare carry

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DEVIL DICTIONARY

Portable

adj. Exposed to a mutable ownership through vicissitudes of possession.

His light estate, if neither he did make it
Nor yet its former guardian forsake it,
Is portable improperly, I take it.
Worgum Slupsky

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THESAURUS

Portable

assignable, carriable, communicable, compact, conductive, consignable, contagious, convenient, conveyable, expressable, handy, impartable, interchangeable, light, lightweight, little, mailable, manageable, metathetic, movable, pocket, pocket-sized, portative, removable, small, transferable, transfusable, transmissible, transmissive, transmittable, transportable, transportative, transposable, vest-pocket, wieldy

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ROGET THESAURUS

Portable

Littleness

N littleness, smallness, exiguity, inextension, parvitude, parvity, duodecimo, Elzevir edition, epitome, microcosm, rudiment, vanishing point, thinness, dwarf, pygmy, pigmy, Liliputian, chit, pigwidgeon, urchin, elf, atomy, dandiprat, doll, puppet, Tom Thumb, Hop-o'-my-thumb, manikin, mannikin, homunculus, dapperling, cock-sparrow, animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon, bacteria, infusoria, microzoa, phytozoaria, microbe, grub, tit, tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry, millet seed, mustard seed, barleycorn, pebble, grain of sand, molehill, button, bubble, point, atom, fragment, powder, point of a pin, mathematical point, minutiae, micrometer, vernier, scale, microphotography, photomicrography, micrography, photomicrograph, microphotograph, microscopy, microscope (optical instruments), little, small, minute, diminutive, microscopic, microzoal, inconsiderable, exiguous, puny, tiny, wee, petty, minikin, miniature, pygmy, pigmy, elfin, undersized, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, spare, stunted, limited, cramp, cramped, pollard, Liliputian, dapper, pocket, portative, portable, duodecimo, dumpy, squat, short, impalpable, intangible, evanescent, imperceptible, invisible, inappreciable, insignificant, inconsiderable, trivial, infinitesimal, homoeopathic, atomic, subatomic, corpuscular, molecular, rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, vestigial, weazen, scant, scraggy, scrubby, thin, granular, shrunk, brevipennate, in a small compass, in a nutshell, on a small scale, minutely, microscopically.

Transference

N transfer, transference, translocation, elocation, displacement, metastasis, metathesis, removal, remotion, amotion, relegation, deportation, asportation, extradition, conveyance, draft, carrying, carriage, convection, conduction, contagion, transfer, transit, transition, passage, ferry, gestation, portage, porterage, carting, cartage, shoveling, vection, vecture, vectitation, shipment, freight, wafture, transmission, transport, transportation, importation, exportation, transumption, transplantation, translation, shifting, dodging, dispersion, transposition, traction, drift, transferred, drifted, movable, portable, portative, mailable, contagious, from hand to hand, from pillar to post, on the way, by the way, on the road, on the wing, under way, in transit, on course, as one goes, in transitu, en route, chemin faisant, en passant, in mid progress, in mid course.

Levity

N levity, lightness, imponderability, buoyancy, volatility, feather, dust, mote, down, thistle, down, flue, cobweb, gossamer, straw, cork, bubble, balloon, float, buoy, ether, air, leaven, ferment, barm, yeast, lighter-than-air balloon, helium balloon, hydrogen balloon, hot air balloon, convection, thermal draft, thermal, light, subtile, airy, imponderous, imponderable, astatic, weightless, ethereal, sublimated, gossamery, suberose, suberous, uncompressed, volatile, buoyant, floating, portable, light as a feather, light as a thistle, light as air, lighter than air, rise like a balloon, float like a balloon.

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