Capable of being moved, lifted, carried, drawn, turned, or conveyed, or in any way made to change place or posture; susceptible of motion; not fixed or stationary; as, a movable steam engine. [1913 Webster]
Changing from one time to another; as, movable feasts, i. e., church festivals, the date of which varies from year to year. [1913 Webster]

Movable letter (Heb. Gram.), a letter that is pronounced, as opposed to one that is quiescent. -- Movable feast (Ecclesiastical), a holy day that changes date, depending on the lunar cycle. An example of such a day is Easter.

movable, n.

An article of wares or goods; a commodity; a piece of property not fixed, or not a part of real estate; generally, in the plural, goods; wares; furniture. [1913 Webster]
"Furnished with the most rich and princely movables." [1913 Webster]
Property not attached to the soil. [1913 Webster]
" The word is not convertible with personal property, since rents and similar incidents of the soil which are personal property by our law are immovables by the Roman law." Wharton. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

movable, adj. & n. (also moveable)
--adj.
1 that can be moved.
2 Law (of property) of the nature of a chattel, as distinct from land or buildings.
3 (of a feast or festival) variable in date from year to year.
--n.
1 an article of furniture that may be removed from a house, as distinct from a fixture.
2 (in pl.) personal property.

Idiom

movable-doh Mus. applied to a system of sight-singing in which doh is the keynote of any major scale (cf. fixed-doh).

Derivative

movability n. movableness n. movably adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF (as MOVE)

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THESAURUS

movable

able to adapt, accessible, adaptable, adjustable, alterable, alterative, amenable, assignable, changeable, changeful, checkered, communicable, conductive, consignable, contagious, conveyable, ever-changing, expressable, flexible, floating, fluid, impartable, impermanent, impressionable, influenceable, interchangeable, kaleidoscopic, mailable, malleable, many-sided, metamorphic, metathetic, mobile, modifiable, motile, moveable, moving, mutable, nonuniform, open, open-minded, permutable, persuadable, persuasible, pervious, plastic, pliable, pliant, portable, portative, protean, proteiform, receptive, removable, resilient, responsive, roving, rubbery, suasible, suggestible, supple, susceptible, swayable, transferable, transfusable, transient, transitory, transmissible, transmissive, transmittable, transportable, transportative, transposable, unfixed, unstable, unsteadfast, unsteady, variable, weak

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ROGET THESAURUS

movable

Motion

N motion, movement, move, going, unrest, stream, flow, flux, run, course, stir, evolution, kinematics, telekinesis, step, rate, pace, tread, stride, gait, port, footfall, cadence, carriage, velocity, angular velocity, clip, progress, locomotion, journey, voyage, transit, restlessness, mobility, movableness, motive power, laws of motion, mobilization, moving, in motion, transitional, motory, motive, shifting, movable, mobile, mercurial, unquiet, restless, nomadic, erratic, under way, on the move, on the wing, on the tramp, on the march, eppur si muove, es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt.

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.

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