mobile

[moh-buh l, -beel or, esp. British, -bahyl] /ˈmoʊ bəl, -bil or, esp. British, -baɪl/
adjective
1.
capable of moving or being moved readily.
2.
Digital Technology. pertaining to or noting a cell phone, usually one with computing ability, or a portable, wireless computing device used while held in the hand, as in mobile tablet; mobile PDA; mobile app.
3.
utilizing motor vehicles for ready movement:
a mobile library.
4.
Military. permanently equipped with vehicles for transport.
5.
flowing freely, as a liquid.
6.
changeable or changing easily in expression, mood, purpose, etc.:
a mobile face.
7.
quickly responding to impulses, emotions, etc., as the mind.
8.
Sociology.
  1. characterized by or permitting the mixing of social groups.
  2. characterized by or permitting relatively free movement from one social class or level to another.
9.
of or pertaining to a mobile.
noun
10.
a piece of sculpture having delicately balanced units constructed of rods and sheets of metal or other material suspended in midair by wire or twine so that the individual parts can move independently, as when stirred by a breeze.
Compare stabile (def 3).
11.
mobile phone.
12.
Informal. a mobile home.
13.
Citizens Band Radio Slang. a vehicle.
Origin
1480-90; < Latin, neuter of mōbilis movable, equivalent to mō- (variant stem of movēre to move) + -bilis -ble
Related forms
nonmobile, adjective
semimobile, adjective
unmobile, adjective

Mobile

[moh-beel, moh-beel] /moʊˈbil, ˈmoʊ bil/
noun
1.
a seaport in SW Alabama at the mouth of the Mobile River.
2.
a river in SW Alabama, formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers. 38 miles (61 km) long.

-mobile

1.
a combining form extracted from automobile, occurring as the final element in compounds denoting specialized types of motorized conveyances: snowmobile; especially productive in coinages naming vehicles equipped to procure or deliver objects, provide services, etc., to people without regular access to these:
bloodmobile; bookmobile; clubmobile; jazzmobile.

primum mobile

[pree-moo m moh-bi-le; English prahy-muh m mob-uh-lee, pree-] /ˈpri mʊm ˈmoʊ bɪˌlɛ; English ˈpraɪ məm ˈmɒb əˌli, ˈpri-/
Latin.
1.
(in Ptolemaic astronomy) the outermost of the 10 concentric spheres of the universe, making a complete revolution every 24 hours and causing all the others to do likewise.
2.
prime mover.
Origin
literally, first moving (thing)
Examples from the web for mobile
  • Pepsi has mashed up an outdoor ad to be interactive and mobile.
  • Full disclosure: We're not sold on mobile video.
  • The next frontiers for mobile robots are the office, hospital and home.
  • The mobile Web is still considered an open — and largely untapped — frontier.
  • Poor countries have already benefited hugely from mobile phones.
  • That phrase is often used to bolster the restrictive unwritten dress code of upwardly mobile society.
  • E-books, mobile apps and e-learning modules are hot.
  • In rural Uganda, farmers use mobile telephones to pass along information about the impacts and control of climate change.
  • This sea eagle also hangs from the mobile.
  • Take a look inside a modern mobile home.
British Dictionary definitions for mobile

mobile

/ˈməʊbaɪl/
adjective
1.
having freedom of movement; movable
2.
changing quickly in expression: a mobile face
3.
(sociol) (of individuals or social groups) moving within and between classes, occupations, and localities: upwardly mobile
4.
(of military forces) able to move freely and quickly to any given area
5.
(postpositive) (informal) having transport available: are you mobile tonight?
noun
6.
  1. a sculpture suspended in midair with delicately balanced parts that are set in motion by air currents
  2. (as modifier): mobile sculpture Compare stabile
7.
short for mobile phone
Word Origin
C15: via Old French from Latin mōbilis, from movēre to move

Mobile

/ˈməʊbiːl; məʊˈbiːl/
noun
1.
a port in SW Alabama, on Mobile Bay (an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico): the state's only port and its first permanent settlement, made by French colonists in 1711. Pop: 193 464 (2003 est)

-mobile

/məʊˌbiːl/
suffix
1.
indicating a vehicle designed for a particular person or purpose: Popemobile

primum mobile

/ˈpraɪmʊm ˈməʊbɪlɪ/
noun
1.
a prime mover
2.
(astronomy) the outermost empty sphere in the Ptolemaic system that was thought to revolve around the earth from east to west in 24 hours carrying with it the inner spheres of the planets, sun, moon, and fixed stars
Word Origin
C15: from Medieval Latin: first moving (thing)
Word Origin and History for mobile
adj.

late 15c., from Middle French mobile (14c.), from Latin mobilis "movable, easy to move; loose, not firm," figuratively, "pliable, flexible, susceptible, nimble, quick; changeable, inconstant, fickle," contraction of *movibilis, from movere "to move" (see move (v.)). Sociology sense from 1927. Mobile home first recorded 1940.

n.

early 15c. in astronomy, "outer sphere of the universe," from mobile (adj.); the artistic sense is first recorded 1949 as a shortening of mobile sculpture (1936). Now-obsolete sense of "the common people, the rabble" (1670s) led to mob (n.).

Mobile

city in Alabama, U.S., attested c.1540 in Spanish as Mauvila, referring to an Indian group and perhaps from Choctaw (Muskogean) moeli "to paddle." Related: Mobilian.

primum mobile

n.

"the first source of motion," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin (11c.), literally "the first movable thing;" see prime (adj.) + mobile. A translation of Arabic al-muharrik al-awwal "the first moving" (Avicenna).

mobile in Culture

mobile definition


A sculpture made up of suspended shapes that move.

Note: Alexander Calder, a twentieth-century American sculptor, is known for his mobiles.
Slang definitions & phrases for mobile

mobile

adjective

Attractive; dishy (1990s+ Teenagers)

Related Terms

pimpmobile