a. [ad. L. tractābilis, f. tractāre: see TRACT v.1, and cf. TREATABLE.]
1. That can be easily managed; docile, compliant, manageable, governable. (Of persons and animals, or their dispositions, etc.)
1502. Atkynson, trans. De Imitatione, II. iii. 182. To be conuersaunt with meke, tractable or charitable company.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark, Pref. The more noble courage and stomacke they be of, the more tractable they are.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 37. Rather with tractable willingnesse to learn, than with sharpnesse of wit.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burn. Pestle, II. i. I’m glad the girl Is found so tractable.
1738. Berkeley, Lett., 11 May, Wks. 1871, IV. 258. You have to do with people of no very easy or tractable spirit.
1832. Scott, Woodst., ii. A large wolf-dog,… as tractable as he was strong and bold.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. ii. (1857), 24. Philip … found the Aragonese legislature by no means so tractable as the Castilian.
b. Const. to with sb. or inf.; in quot. 1651, easily led or persuaded to or to do something.
1509. Bp. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (E.E.T.S.), I. 291. To god & to the chirche full obedyent & tractable.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 82. I … found him not onely guiltie of the crime, but tractable to be reclaimed.
c. 1645. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 428. She is witty & very tractable to please.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 30. They are silly souls, and tractable to novelty.
† c. transf. of an action, etc. Obs.
c. 1609. in Capt. Smith’s Virginia, III. xi. (1624), 89. He had oft brought the Salvages to a tractable trade.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 203. Their education to this tractable expedition is admirable.
2. Of things (usually concrete): Easy to manage, deal with, handle, or work; manageable.
1555. Eden, Decades, 334. This metall [gold] is a body tractable and bryght.
1654. Earl Monm., trans. Bentivoglio’s Warrs Flanders, 57. On which side the ground was more tractable.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 27/1. The Nut Tree … is extremely tractable, and good for most uses.
1898. Pall Mall Mag., May, 20. She had a small but exquisitely tractable voice.
1906. E. F. Scott, Fourth Gosp., vi. 216. Elements … not wholly tractable to his method of re-interpretation.
† 3. That can be handled; palpable, tangible.
1605. Willet, Hexapla Gen., 203. These angels had palpable and tractable bodies.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. III. iii. 45. The visible and tractable Mater [matter].
1694. Holder, On Time, i. 16. The other Measures … are of Continued Quantity, Permanent, and Visible, and for the most part Tractable; whereas Time is always Transient,… neither to be seen, nor felt, nor reserved.
† 4. That one can ‘do with’ or put up with; tolerable, endurable. Obs.
1605. Tryall Chev., V. i., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1884), III. 339. As soone As the cool winds haue fand [= fanned] the burning Sunne And made it tractable for travaylers.
1692. Ray, Disc., 237. Eternity is the very sting of Hell; take that out, and the Sinner will think it tractable enough.
