a. [f. WELD v. + -ABLE.] Capable of being welded.
1864. Reader, 9 April, 449/1. We have the various kinds of steel, which are highly elastic, malleable, ductile, forgeable, weldable.
1881. Metal World, No. 24. 372. Pure malleable and weldable nickel.
1889. W. Anderson, in Nature, 19 Sept., 510/2. Many metals not hitherto considered weldable, such as tool steel, copper, and aluminium are readily welded.
b. transf. Of plastic substances: Capable of being united in a solid mass.
1881. Mattieu Williams, in Knowledge, 25 Nov., 67/1. Wax, pitch, resin, and all other solids that fuse, gradually cohere, are weldable, or, in very plain language, ‘stick together’ when near their fusing point.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 300/2. Outside of the metals there is a multitude of weldable substances. Glass is a typical example of these.
