Obs. or arch. Also 5 fluxyble, 7 fluxable. [a. OF. fluxible, ad. late L. fluxibilis, f. flux- ppl. stem of fluĕre to flow.]
1. Apt to flow; fluid.
1551. Recorde, Cast. Knowl. (1556), 141. The water beynge a lyquide and fluxible bodye, can not be stayed by his owne partes.
1605. Timme, Quersit., II. i. 105. Salt, by the vehemencie of the heat of fier, is to be dissolued, moulten and made fluxible, and to be cast into a moulten lumpe, as easily as metalls be.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., I. 45/2. They [Stones] are created by Nature, lying flat as we see them in the Ground, of a liquid and fluxible Substance.
fig. 1660. Milton, Free Commw., 437. Good Education and acquisite Wisdom ought to correct the fluxible fault, if any such be, of our watry situation.
b. Of a watery consistence; hence, pliable, supple.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 408. Not a fluxible or loose fat like the fat of Lambs, but a solid fat, like the fat of Hogs and Oxen.
1618. M. Baret, Horsemanship, I. 9. The ends of the flint was rather to be hard and firme then soft and fluxable.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., X. 366/2. At that Age all things are fluxible … especially the Bones and Nerves.
2. Capable of being melted; fusible; liquefiable.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., I. vi. in Ashm. (1652), 130.
| And we make Calx vnctuous both white and red | |
| Of three degrees or our base be perfect, | |
| Fluxible as waxe, els stand they in no sted. |
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 289. In them doth abound fluxible moisture, apt to be dissolved with every little heat, and to turn to putrifaction.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 17. Minerals are of two Sorts, some fluxible or liquifiable, and others not.
quasi-sb.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 18. Dismissing the first Fluxibles, such as Gold, Silver, and the like.
3. Liable to flux or change; fluctuating, not permanent, variable.
1561. Eden, Arte Nauig., III. ii. 56. This [water] is fluxible, wauering, and moueable.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. v. (1660), 120. They [Meteors] be of nature fluxible, and nothing permanent.
1677. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, iv. 517. Is there not a natural leuitie and vanitie in every Creature, which renders it fluxible, variable, and inconstant?
Hence Fluxibly adv. Fluxibility, Fluxibleness, the quality of being fluxible.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., VI. ix. in Ashm. (1652), 163.
| Every parte all fyre for to endure, | |
| Fluxybly fyxe and stabull in tynctuie. |
1574. Newton, Health Mag., 38. It greatly helpeth the bodie without anye harme and stoppeth over much thinnesse and fluxibilitie of bloude in cholericke and sanguine persons.
1651. Hammond, Answ. Ld. Falkland, vii. Wks. 1684, II. 693. 43 The fluxibility of humane nature is so great, that it is no wonder if errors should have crept in, the wayes being so many, but it is a great wonder of God, that none should have crept in.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Fluxibleness.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 20. Such Humidity is disproportioned by the Fluxibility, altho’ in Quantity it be sufficient; and therefore it resides more in one Part than in another, and when it is there condens’d by the Heat, it produces a Sort of Knottiness in the Stones.
