a. [f. STAIN v. + -ABLE.] Capable of being stained. Hence Stainability.
1884. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., XXIII. 59. Two substances, one readily stainable, and one staining with difficulty.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XIX. 833/1. A very simple homogeneous corpuscle or vesicle of more readily stainable protoplasm.
1890. Lond. Med. Recorder, 20 April, 144/2. Sometimes they appear in greater numbers within the nuclei, which thereby are puffed up and lose their stainability.
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, viii. 148. Those [plague bacilli] occurring in the blood … are stainable by Gram’s method.
