a. Also 7 volubil. [a. older F. voluble (= Sp. voluble, Pg. voluvel, It. volubile) or ad. L. volūbilis, f. volū-, volvĕre to turn: see -BLE.
In some instances the use of the word echoes Horace, Ep., I. ii. 43 (Amnis) in omne volubilis ævum.]
I. 1. Liable to change; inconstant, variable, mutable. Now rare.
1575. Fenton, Gold. Epist. (1582), 21. As of all voluble things there is nothyng more light than renown.
1578. Wotton, Courtlie Controuersie, 29. Poets, and Painters … testifye the loue of men to be voluble and vnconstant lyke a birde.
1604. T. Wright, Passions, VI. 339. Perceive how vain fancies, and voluble crosses vanish away as little cloudes before the northerne winds.
1647. J. Carter, Nail & Wheel, 71. Nothing abides at a stay; all things are unstable, and voluble.
1652. N. Culverwel, Lt. Nat., I. xii. (1661), 104. The noblest Perfections … are but voluble, and uncertain.
1678. Alsop, Melius Inq., II. v. 243. The Lot, wherein the … Alruling God Controuls the Contingency of the voluble Creature.
1898. Meredith, Odes Fr. Hist., 28. He waves, and the voluble scene is a quagmire shifting block.
2. Capable of ready rotation on a center or axis; apt to revolve or roll in this manner. Now rare.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xi. (Arb.), 111. He [the round or sphere] is euen and smooth, without any angle, or interruption, most voluble and apt to turne, and to continue motion.
1609. Bible (Douay), Ezek. x. 13. And these wheeles he called voluble, my self hearing it.
1637. Gillespie, Eng. Pop. Cerem., A ij b. Like Diogenes turning about the mouth of his voluble hoggeshead.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 594. Or this less volubil Earth By shorter flight to th’ East had left him there.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., III. 2/1. A Sphere is … a round body voluble on every side.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 490. Thrice must the voluble and restless earth Spin round upon her axle.
1812. Cary, Dante, Purg., XXII. 41. I had met The fierce encounter of the voluble rock.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-t., Ser. II. xvii. 397. Go thy ways old world, swing round in blue ether, voluble to every age; you and I shall no more jostle!
fig. 1598. Dallington, Meth. Trav., B j b. His imagination shall be carried in the voluble Sphere of diuers mens discourses.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xxiii. § 33. Nothing is more politique then to make the wheels of our mind concentrique and voluble with the wheel of fortune.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 106. Fortune (Sister) is unstable, and her wheele voluble.
† b. Of the eye: Moving readily. Obs.–1
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 97. He hath … high eyebrowes, eyes not very voluble or prominent.
c. Capable of being rolled up.
1661. Evelyn, Chalcogr., 19. Which from the German Bucher … were called Books, to whatever voluble or folding matter applyed.
3. Moving rapidly and easily, esp. with a gliding or undulating movement.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. iv. (Arb.), 156. A broad and voluble tong, thinne and mouable lippes, teeth euen and not shagged.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 11. The Tongue of a Serpent … is also thinne, long, and black of colour, voluble; neither is there any beast that moueth the tongue so speedily.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 436. Neerer he drew, and many a walk travers’d Of stateliest Covert, Cedar, Pine, or Palme, Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, III. 131. The parts of it [sc. water] being very voluble and lubricous, as well as fine and small, it easily … distends the Tubes and Vessels of Vegetables.
1856. Bryant, Summer Air, 25. Why so slow, Gentle and voluble spirit of the air?
fig. 1862. Thackeray, Philip, xvii. Would you like to hear yesterday’s sermon over and over again—eternally voluble?
4. Bot. Twining, twisting. Cf. VOLUBILE a.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Stalk, Voluble stalk, that which twists round other things.
1789. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. (1791), 108, note. Some of the plants with voluble stems ascend other plants spirally, east—south—west.
1835. Kirby, Power, Wisd. & Goodn. God, II. 247. Some with a climbing or voluble stem, constantly turn one way, and some as constantly turn another.
1857. A. Gray, First Less. Bot. (1866), 37. Twining, or voluble, when stems rise by coiling themselves spirally around other stems or supports. [Also in later botanical works.]
II. 5. Characterized by fluency or glibness of utterance; rapid and ready of speech; fluent:
a. Of persons.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 69. A most acute Iuuenall, voluble and free of grace. Ibid. (1604), Oth., II. i. 242. A knaue very voluble…. A slipper, and subtle knaue, a finder of occasion.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 14. There be found men aboue a hundred yeares old, that are very voluble and fluent in talke and discourse.
[1704. Steele, Lying Lover, V. i. Oh this unhappy Tongue of mine! Thou lawless voluble destroying Foe.]
1726. Pope, Odyss., XXII. 319. There end thy pompous vaunts and high disdain; Oh sharp in scandal, voluble and vain!
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., II. 158. Fierce in his air, and voluble of tongue.
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, lvi. VII. 138. A school of oratory, which produced a long series of voluble sophists.
1890. M. Williams, Leaves of Life, II. xvii. 150. Of all the voluble men I have encountered in the course of my career, he is the most voluble.
absol. 1762. Foote, Orator, II. Wks. 1799, I. 219. You will have at one view, the choleric, the placid, the voluble,… and the clamorous.
b. Of the tongue.
1608. Middleton, Trick to catch Old One, I. ii. ’Tis a fine little voluble toung mine Hoste, that wins a widdow.
1650. R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low C. Wars, III. 63. A man naturally eloquent, of a voluble fluent tongue.
1699. Burnet, 39 Art., xxiii. 257. Hot-headed Men of warm Fancies, and voluble Tongues … would be apt to thrust themselves on to the Teaching and Governing others.
1720. Prior, Truth & Falsehood, 45. Her tongue, so voluble and kind, It always runs before her mind.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XX. 309. The tongue of man is voluble, hath words For every theme.
1817. Chalmers, Life Churchyard, 8. Churchyard was, plainly, a plausible man, who had many tales to tell, with a voluble tongue.
Comb. 1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., V. A notable-voluble tongde villaine.
transf. 1820. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, xxiii. But to her heart, her heart was voluble, Paining with eloquence her balmy side.
6. Of discourse, words, etc.: Characterized by great fluency or readiness of utterance.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 76. Aged cares play treuant at his tales … So sweet and voluble is his discourse. Ibid. (1590), Com. Err., II. i. 92. If voluble and sharpe discourse be mar’d, Vnkindnesse blunts it more then marble.
1649. Milton, Eikon., 32. A discours, voluble anough, and full of sentence.
1690. Lond. Gaz., No. 2612/4. One John Waterhouse of full middle Stature,… and of a large Voice, and voluble Speech.
1782. J. Warton, Ess. Pope, II. xiv. 473, note. The style of which is certainly not so melodious and voluble as that of Dryden’s enchanting prose.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1750. His periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. ii. (1855), 25. In such persons words are ever at command—voluble and impassioned words.
1870. L’Estrange, Life Miss Mitford, I. vi. 170. At length ‘madame’ began a very voluble oration, intended to express the extent of our delinquency.
transf. a. 1721. Prior, Dial. betw. Locke & Montaigne, ¶ 5. I find the same strain run with a most voluble impetuosity almost thro every Chapter of your Book.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T., Forester, Catastrophe. The joy of the poor dancing-master … was rapturous and voluble.
1849. Miss Mulock, The Ogilvies, xvi. The good woman went on in her voluble grief.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xxii. 308. Oh, the jarring discord of voluble sympathy!
† b. (See quot.) Obs.–1
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 243. They [the Chinese] have contrived a fourth Kind of Writing, the Strokes whereof … are made with more Ease and Expedition; on which Account they are called Voluble Letters.
Hence Volubleness, the quality or character of being voluble.
1610. Guillem, Heraldry, III. xxii. 168. Such Reptiles as hauing no feet doe with a kind of volublenesse make their way in the waters with many intricate doublings.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Volubleness, an Aptness to roll; also a round Delivery or Utterance, an easy Pronunciation.
1895. Advance (Chicago), 10 Oct., 517/3. In general there is … a certain volubleness among the ministers, and forgetfulness … to give the laymen a chance [to speak].
