a. [ad. L. excitābilis, f. excitāre: see EXCITE v. Cf. Fr. excitable.] Capable of being excited; prone to, or susceptible of, excitement; easily excited. Const. to.
1609. Bp. W. Barlow, Answ. Nameless Cath., 305. Their persons are liable to Deposing and killing; and their Subiects excitable to Insurrection and Rebellion?
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., xxxii. Wks. 1741, I. 342. His affections were … excitable by their due objects.
1837. Lytton, E. Maltravers, I. 82. His flexile and excitable fancy was conjuring up a thousand shapes.
1863. Miss Braddon, Eleanor’s Vict., I. ii. One of those excitable natures which cannot endure the influence of strong drinks.
a. 1864. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), I. 53. He is … wonderfully excitable to mirth.
Hence Excitableness, the condition or quality of being excitable.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 238. A precaution against the excitableness of youth.
