a. colloq. Also comeatable, come-atable. [f. the phrase come at (see COMEv. 38) + -ABLE.] That may be come at or reached; accessible, attainable, obtainable.
1687. T. Brown, Lib. Consc., in Dk. Buckhm’s Wks. (1705), II. 118. The Poultry was not so comeatable as their Neighbours desir’d.
1696. Tryon, Misc., Pref. 1. Remedies … cheap and easily Come-at-able.
1721. Cibber, Lady’s Last Stake, I. Pleasures which were a little more comeatable.
1769. Lloyd’s Evening Post, 11–13 Sept., 254/2. Butchers meat was scarcely comeatable.
1809. Naval Chron., XXII. 43. The come-atable facts of Captain Smith’s case.
1835. H. D. Inglis, Channel Isl., 245. Any of those come-atable documents.
1839. Ld. Meadowbank, in Swinton, Rep. Trial W. Humphrys, 318. The Scotch estates were easily come-at-able.
Hence Come-at-ability, Come-at-ableness.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1760), II. vii. 53. The … com-at-ability, and convenience of all the parts.
1870. Daily News, 27 Sept. Her inferiority in the numbers, and still more in the ‘come-at-ableness’ of her forces.
