Dictionary

mobile en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈmoʊ.baɪl/ (Canada)
• /ˈmoʊ.bil/ (US)
• /ˈmoʊ.baɪl/ (US)
• /ˈməʉ.bɑel/ (Australia)
• /ˈmoʊ.bəl/ (US)
• /ˈmoʊ.bil/ sculpture always
• (UK) audio
• /ˈməʊ.baɪl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈmɐʉ.bɑe̯l] (New-Zealand)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).

Meanings

1. Capable of being moved, especially on wheels.
   • mobile home; mobile library
2. Able to move freely or easily.
   • She's mobile again after her skiing accident.
3. Pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones.
   • A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone. 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):
   • mobile number
   • mobile internet
4. Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom.
   • Mercury is a mobile liquid.
5. Easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction; excitable; changeable; fickle.
   • the quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 7, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
6. Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind.
   • His finely cut features were capable of every variety of expression; they were, to use a French epithet, expressive as their epithets for all social qualities usually are, mobile in the extreme. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Another London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 176:
   • mobile features
   • a mobile face
7. Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement.

Forms

Antonyms

immobile · immovable · sessile · stationary · fixed · sessile

Deriveds

mobile telephone · mobile station · mobileness · mob · mobilecasting · mobile service · mobilist · airmobile · Muskmobile · s-mobile · socially mobile · mobile home · dorsomobile · mobot · ground mobile force · mobile entity · mobile phone · mobile game · nonmobile · mobile crane · upwardly mobile · mobile genetic element · mobile object · mobile speed bump · ultramobile · mobile reporting · cellular mobile · moblog · mobile library · mobile virtual network operator · mobile phase · madware · mobilette · mobile chicane · mobilome · retromobile · mobile number · mobile home park · mobile elevated work platform · mobile wad · mobilelike · hypomobile · mupload · mobilopathy · Mobilegeddon · mobisode · mobilely · mobile billboard · mobile data · semimobile · mobile scanner picking · mobilism · hypermobile · mobile elevating work platform · MASH

Synonyms

liquid · runny · thin · fluxive · fluid · excitable · everchanging · afoot · variable · inconstant · mobile · dynamic · volatile · under sail · unstill · moody · free-flowing · mobile · mobile · fluent · watery · in motion · unstable · animate · animate · changeful · astir · on the wing · fickle · on the move · cursory · wavering · vagile · fluxive · mobile · shiftable · fluid · motive · dynamic · fickle · moving · changeling · kinetic · up-and-down · ambulatory · flowy · changeable · motile · movable · labile · motile · movable

Translations (87)

az səyyar (capable of being moved) · ba мобиль (capable of being moved) · ka მოძრავი (capable of being moved) · sv flyttbar (capable of being moved) · ka მობილური (capable of being moved) · hu mobil (capable of being moved) · hy շարժուն (capable of being moved) · fi mobiili (pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones) · bg мобилен (capable of being moved) · ka მობილური (pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones) · tl gala (capable of being moved) · hu szállítható (capable of being moved) · sk mobilný (capable of being moved) · pt móvel (/ˈmɔ.vew/) (pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones) · ru передвижно́й (capable of being moved) · ms mudalih (capable of being moved) · grc κινητικός (capable of being moved) · pt móvel (capable of being moved) · fa سیار (capable of being moved) · hu változó (easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction — see also excitable, fickle) · hu hígfolyós (characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity) · fi nopealiikkeinen (characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity) · hu mozgékony (characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity) · ca mòbil (capable of being moved) · az mobil (capable of being moved) · it mobile (capable of being moved) · cmn 可动的 (capable of being moved) · jam muobail (capable of being moved) · hu mozgó (capable of being moved) · sv mobil (capable of being moved) · ar مُتَنَقِّل (capable of being moved) · ia mobile (capable of being moved) · hi गतिमान (capable of being moved) · hu fluid (characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity) · vo vabovik (capable of being moved) · ro mobil (capable of being moved) · de mobil (capable of being moved) · la mōbilis (capable of being moved) · fi liikkuva (capable of being moved) · pl przenośny (capable of being moved) · hu változékony (easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction — see also excitable, fickle) · cs mobilní (capable of being moved) · hu gyorsan reagáló (easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction — see also excitable, fickle) · pt movediço (capable of being moved) · sa जङ्गम (capable of being moved) · ru подвижной (capable of being moved) · lv mobils (capable of being moved) · cs pohyblivý (capable of being moved) · hu élénk (easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction — see also excitable, fickle) · fr mobile (capable of being moved) · ka გადატანადი (capable of being moved) · hu hordozható (capable of being moved) · no bevegelig (capable of being moved) · hu mozgatható (capable of being moved) · hy շարժական (capable of being moved) · ms mudah alih (capable of being moved) · hu mobilis (capable of being moved) · fi liikuntakykyinen (biology: capable of spontaneous movement) · bg подвижен (capable of being moved) · tr taşınabilir (capable of being moved) · el κινητός (capable of being moved) · lt mobilus (capable of being moved) · pl ruchomy (capable of being moved) · fi ailahteleva (easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction — see also excitable, fickle) · he נַיָּד (capable of being moved) · hu mobil- (pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones) · nl beweeglijk (capable of being moved) · hu önthető (characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity) · ar مُنْتَقِل (capable of being moved) · hu könnyen/hígan folyó (characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity) · fi matkapuhelin- (pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones) · ja 可動 (capable of being moved) · yi מאָביל (capable of being moved) · sv rörlig (capable of being moved) · nl mobiel (capable of being moved) · no mobil (capable of being moved) · kk қозғалғыш (capable of being moved) · es movible (capable of being moved) · pl mobilny (capable of being moved) · eo movebla (capable of being moved) · hu kiemelhető (capable of being moved) · hi गतिशील (capable of being moved) · de beweglich (capable of being moved) · gl móbil (capable of being moved) · es móvil (capable of being moved) · vo golovik (capable of being moved) · ru моби́льный (capable of being moved)

wikipedia: Richard Bartle · wikipedia: MUD1 · wikipedia: kinetic sculpture

mobile en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmoʊ.baɪl/ (Canada)
• /ˈmoʊ.bil/ (US)
• /ˈmoʊ.baɪl/ (US)
• /ˈməʉ.bɑel/ (Australia)
• /ˈmoʊ.bəl/ (US)
• /ˈmoʊ.bil/ sculpture always
• (UK) audio
• /ˈməʊ.baɪl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈmɐʉ.bɑe̯l] (New-Zealand)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).

Meanings

1. (qualifier:sculpture) A kinetic sculpture or decorative arrangement made of items hanging so that they can move independently from each other.
2. (India, Ireland, UK, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of mobile phone.
   alt of mobile phone
   • Mobiles squerking, mobiles chirping / Take the money and run 2000, “Idioteque”, in Kid A, performed by Radiohead:
   • Pinned against my neighbours, I could feel small hands, fleeting as lizards, fluttering lightly through my pockets in search of money, mobile, wallet. 2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:
3. (Internet, uncountable) The internet accessed via mobile devices; the version of a product seen on mobile devices.
   • The bug affects mobile, but not desktop.
   • There are many business opportunities in mobile.
4. One who moves or can move (e.g. to travel).
   • […] if the constrained "immobiles" are given the same transportation access as the unconstrained "mobiles". […] We concentrated on a mobile teenager population that had good public transportation or automobile access and a[…] 1963, Highway Research Record:
   • One ex-airwoman recalls meal times for both 'mobiles' and 'immobiles', when they sat on backless benches at long bare tables. The 'immobiles' brought in their own food, crockery and cutlery. A free-standing iron range was used[…] 2005 July 19, Ian M. Philpott, The Royal Air Force: The Trenchard Years, 1918–1929, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN:
   • Table 6.5 does indeed show that non-changers were more contented […] For Table 6.7 shows that even when we take account of the initial differences between the mobiles and immobiles, the mobiles' ratings of job characteristics move strongly in a positive direction while all the immobiles' record negative shifts. So the pattern is clear and consistent: jobs get better for movers and worse for non-movers. 1988 February 25, Nigel Nicholson, Michael West, Managerial Job Change: Men and Women in Transition, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 132:
5. An object capable of moving under its own power.
6. (broadly, dated) A creature or NPC that can navigate and interact with the game world (now often shortened to mob).
   • MUD has a type of character called a mobile. These are monsters controlled by the program such as the Dragon and the Vampire. To kill these a band of adventurers need to hunt down the creature hurling a combined strength to vanquish it. 1984, Simon Rockman, “Rockman Files: MUD, MUD, Glorious MUD”, in Games Computing, volume April 1984, page 89:
   • Even mundane mobiles are very advanced. They incorporate other expert systems that enable them to fight (often better than the players); […] 1991, “Modems and Mazes: Life and Death Over the Phone”, in The Gamesman, volume December 1991, page 16:

Forms

Antonyms

inanimate · immobile · stabile

Deriveds

mobile entity · mobile-first · mobile object · moby · blingmobile · mobileless

Descendants

མོ་བ་འིལ · मोबाइल · موبایل · モバイル

Relateds

mobilize · move · mobility · mobilization

Synonyms

non-player character · mob · cell phone · mobile object · agent

Translations (17)

es móvil (decoration) · el κρεμαστό διακοσμητικό (decoration) · fi mobile (decoration) · tr dekorasyon (decoration) · mi kaui (decoration) · no uro (decoration) · fr mobile (decoration) · cy symudyn (decoration) · fi mobiili internet (internet accessed via mobile devices) · ca mòbil (decoration) · de Mobile (decoration) · ko 모빌 (decoration) · el μόμπιλ (decoration) · eo mobilo (decoration) · cmn 机动 (decoration) · ja モビール (decoration) · sv mobil (decoration)

wikidata: Q17517 · wikidata: Q784445 · wikipedia: Richard Bartle · wikipedia: MUD1 · wikipedia: kinetic sculpture · wikidata: Q2517599