Dictionary

retortable en · ADJ

Etymology

From retort + -able.

Meanings

1. To which one may produce a counterargument; answerable.
   • Oh wise and divine restraint, that curbeth the most universall and common error of men: Not onely the reproches, wee doe one to another, but our reasons, our arguments and matter controversed, are ordinarily retortable unto us: and wee pinch our selves up in our owne armes. 1897, Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michael, Lord of Montaigne, page 286:
   • The appeal to common sense, then, is altogether retortable, and leaves the whole question in statu quo; both matter and mind resting on exactly equivalent evidence, be it sufficient or insufficient. 1846, John Daniel Morell, An Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the NIneteenth Century, page 438:
   • No doubt all such attempts will be met, more or less, by the old watch-cries of materialism and pantheism; but we protest in the outset against any such charges, not only as hasty and ill-judged, but perfectly retortable. 1856 April, “Revuews: Modern English Psychology”, in British and Foreign Medico-chirurgical Review, volume 17, page 359:
2. (not-comparable) Suitable for heating in a retort.
   • But with contracts made for the retortable material which can be mined without difficulty, yet which it is in the collieries' interests not to permit to be mixed with the coal, a fair price can no doubt be arrived at. 1918, E. H. Cunningham Craig, F. Mollwo Perkin, A.G.V. Berry, A. E. Dunstan, “A New British Oil Industry”, in Journal of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists, page 118:
   • The zone of retortable oil shale underlying the pattern wells was from 340- to 380- foot depth. 1919, A. Gene Collins, Andrew A. Cochran, Arthur M. Hartstein, Atomic Absorption Methods of Analysis of Oilfield Brines: Barium, Calcium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Socium, Strontium, and Zinc, page 64:
   • A paper read before the Second Empire Minin and Metallurgical Congress, held at Ottawa in 1927, stated that the supply of retortable material within the Empire is very large and that it was necessary to look to such retortable material rather than to free oil for sufficient supplies of petroleum if Empire needs were to be met. 1935, John R. Bradley, Fuel and Power in the British Empire, page 16:
3. (not-comparable, qualifier:food processing) Suitable for retort processing.
   • Retortable pouches were the first to come on the scene as retortable packaging. 2012, Takashi Kadoya, Food Packaging, page 186:
   • Retortable trays have a semi-rigid or rigid boy and a sealable flexible lid. 2018, Dennis R. Heldman, Daryl B. Lund, Cristina Sabliov, Handbook of Food Engineering, page 1088:
   • Isolated soy protein, pH 4.5 for protein enrichment of baby foods/geriatric foods and other retortable products. 2020, William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi, History of Ralston Purina Co. and the Work of William H. and Donald E. Danforth, Protein Technologies International, and Solae With Soy (1894-2020), page 172:

Forms

Deriveds

retortable pouch