EATABLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does eatable mean? 

• EATABLE (noun)
  The noun EATABLE has 1 sense:

1. any substance that can be used as food

  Familiarity information: EATABLE used as a noun is very rare.

• EATABLE (adjective)
  The adjective EATABLE has 1 sense:

1. suitable for use as food

  Familiarity information: EATABLE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EATABLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any substance that can be used as food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

comestible; eatable; edible; pabulum; victual; victuals

Hypernyms ("eatable" is a kind of...):

food; nutrient (any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "eatable"):

tuck (eatables (especially sweets))

• EATABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suitable for use as food

Synonyms:

comestible; eatable; edible

Similar:

killable (fit to kill, especially for food)

non-poisonous; nonpoisonous; nontoxic (safe to eat)

pareve; parve (containing no meat or milk (or their derivatives) and thus eatable with both meat and dairy dishes according to the dietary laws of Judaism)

Also:

digestible (capable of being converted into assimilable condition in the alimentary canal)

palatable; toothsome (acceptable to the taste or mind)

tender (easy to cut or chew)

 Context examples 

In the meantime they're willin' to pick up anything eatable that comes handy.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In fact, nothing, no matter how remotely eatable, had escaped them.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Breakfast-time came at last, and this morning the porridge was not burnt; the quality was eatable, the quantity small.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I found that Mrs. Heep gradually got nearer to me, and that Uriah gradually got opposite to me, and that they respectfully plied me with the choicest of the eatables on the table.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is an insipid fruit at the best; but a good apricot is eatable, which none from my garden are.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The commander in chief and his aides soon spread the tablecloth with an inviting array of eatables and drinkables, prettily decorated with green leaves.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Water would have been little to their taste; a sailor is not usually a good shot; and besides all that, when they were so short of eatables, it was not likely they would be very flush of powder.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Morning decidedly the best time—never tired—every sort good—hautboy infinitely superior—no comparison—the others hardly eatable—hautboys very scarce—Chili preferred—white wood finest flavour of all—price of strawberries in London—abundance about Bristol—Maple Grove—cultivation—beds when to be renewed—gardeners thinking exactly different—no general rule—gardeners never to be put out of their way—delicious fruit—only too rich to be eaten much of—inferior to cherries—currants more refreshing—only objection to gathering strawberries the stooping—glaring sun—tired to death—could bear it no longer—must go and sit in the shade.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)