a. and sb. [ad. med.L. audībilis, f. audīre to hear: see -BLE.]
A. adj.
1. Able to be heard, perceptible to the ear.
1529. More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. Wks. 1259/1. The ioyes of heauen are … to mans eares not audible.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 266. Eve … with audible lament Discover’d soon the place of her retire.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 229. I had rather have their silent Prayers, than their audible ones.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., xi. 110. I tried to speak twice without making myself distinctly audible.
† 2. Able to hear. Obs. rare.
1603. H. Crosse, Vertues Commw. (1878), 120. The minde is nothing so tentible at a good instruction, nor the eare so audible, as at a vaine and sportiue foolerie.
B. sb. [the adj. used absol.] A thing capable of being heard.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 269. The species of audibles seem to be carried more manifestly through the air than the species of visibles.
1794. Taylor, Plotinus, xxix. The auditory sense knows audibles.
