personable - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Article Images
- personible (obsolete)
- parsonable (obsolete)
From Middle English personable, personabil, equivalent to person + -able. Compare Medieval Latin personabilis (“personal”), found in a late 13th century British source. The Middle French personable (“remarkable, important”) does not appear until 1528.
personable (comparative more personable, superlative most personable)
- (of a person) Having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.
1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 19, in The Fortunes of Nigel:
I admit him a personable man, for I have seen him; and I will suppose him courteous and agreeable.
1908, E. M. Forster, chapter 12, in A Room With a View:
Barefoot, bare-chested, radiant and personable against the shadowy woods, he called: "Hullo, Miss Honeychurch! Hullo!"
- (of a person) Having a pleasant manner; friendly; amiable.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5:
Wise, warlike, personable, curteous, and kind.
1919, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 5, in The Sun Of Quebec:
I'm bound to admit that you're a personable young rascal, with the best manners I've met in a long time.
- (law, obsolete) Enabled to maintain pleas in court.
- 15th century, Petitions of the Commons[1]
- The Queen be by that name personable to plead
1607, John Cowell), The Interpreter:
The demaundant was iudged personable to maintaine this action
- 15th century, Petitions of the Commons[1]
- (having a pleasing appearance or manner): affable
having pleasing appearance or manner