hability 
habilityt (ha-bil'i-ti), . [< ME. habilite, < OF. 
liiiliilitt- (another form of abilite, ablete, etc., > 
ME. nliilitr, dlilcte: see ability) = F. habilite = 
Pr. habililat Sp. linliiliilinl = Pg. linbilidade 
= It. abililil, ability, < L. hubilita(t-)s (ML. also 
nliilHfi(t-)n), fitness, ability, < Itabiiis, apt, fit, 
able: see ((We 1 .] An obsolete form of ability. 
Shee perfonrnied the same . . . according totheAaW- 
ity of her present fortune. 
J. Dreude, tr. of Quintus Curtius, Hi. 40. 
Speach is not natural! to man Bauing for his onely ha- 
bilitie to speake, and that he is by kinde apt to vtter all 
his conceits with sounds and voyces. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 119. 
What are your present clerk's nubilities? 
How is he qualified? 
B. Jorum, Staple of News, i. 2. 
habit (hab'it), n. [< ME. habit, obit, < OF. ha- 
bit, F. habit = Pr. habit, abit = Sp. hdbito = Pg. 
habito = It. abito, habit, < L. habitus, condition, 
state, appearance, dress, attire, < habere, pp. 
habitus, have, hold, keep : see have. Prom the 
L. habere come also ult. E. habit, v., cohabit, in- 
habit, habitable, habitant, etc., habitacle, bittacle, 
binnacle, exhibit, inhibit,prohibit, debit, debt, due 1 , 
duty, debenture, (lever, devoir, endeavor, habile, 
hable, able 1 , .etc., dfbile, liability, ability, debility, 
etc., habiliment, dishabille, prebend, provender, 
etc., aver%, average 1 , etc.] 1. A usual or charac- 
teristic state or condition; natural condition, at- 
titude, appearance, or development; customary 
mode of being. Specifically (a) A characteristic or 
particular physical state or condition : as, a full, lax, or 
costive habit of body ; a man of spare habit. (6) In zool. 
and l">t., the general aspect and mode of growth of an 
animal or a plant; the habitual attitude or posture in 
which an animal or a plant lives or grows : as, an erect 
hafjit ; a trailing, twining, or recumbent habit, (c) In crys- 
tal., the usual aspect of the crystals of a species as deter- 
mined by the relative development of certain planes : as, 
the crystals of barite have often a tabular habit. 
2. A usual or customary mode of action; par- 
ticularly, a mode of action so established by use 
as to be entirely natural, involuntary, instinc- 
tive, unconscious, uncontrollable, etc.: used 
especially of the action, whether physical, men- 
tal, or moral, of living beings, but also, by ex- 
tension, of that of inanimate things; hence, 
in general, custom; usage; also, a natural or 
more generally an acquired proclivity, dispo- 
sition, or tendency to act in a certain way. 
How use doth breed a habit in a man ! 
Shak., 1. Q. of V., v. 4. 
Allowing his conclusion that virtues and vices consist 
in habit, he ought so much the more to have taught the 
manner of superinducing that habit. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 11 
Power or ability in man of doing any thing, when it has 
been acquired by frequent doing the same thing, . . . we 
name habit. Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxii. 10. 
Habit . . . comprehends a disposition and something 
supervening on a disposition. The disposition, which at 
first was a feebler tendency, becomes, in the end, by cus- 
tom that is, by a frequent repetition of exerted energy 
a stronger tendency. Disposition is the rude original, 
habit is the perfect consummation. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xlii. 
By a habit we mean a fixed disposition to do a thing, 
and a facility in doing it, the result of numerous repeti- 
tions of the action. J. Sulty, Outlines of Psychol., p. 102. 
After a sufficient number of repetitions ... an act be- 
comes a habit, i. c., is performed automatically, or with- 
out the intervention of effort, and frequently without con- 
sciousness. E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 231. 
3f. In logic, a character which can be separated 
from its subject, without the destruction of the 
latter. 
Habit is sometimes taken for whatever form may be 
separated from the subject, as when opposed to privation. 
Burgeredicius, tr. by a Oentleman, I. vL 4. 
4. External dress; particularly, the costume or 
dress regularly worn, or appropriate for a par- 
ticular occasion, use, or vocation. 
Vndir an olde pore abyte regneth ofte 
Crete vurtew, thogh it mostre [show] poorely. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. 8., extra ser.X I. 106. 
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
But not express'd in fancy : rich, not gaudy. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 3. 
In the armory are kept many antiq habit*, as those of 
Chinese Kings. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 22, 1644. 
We went up and saw the Duke dress himself, and in his 
night habitt he is a very plain man. 
Pepys, Diary, April 20, 1661. 
5. A costume worn by women when riding on 
horseback ; a riding-habit. This, until a recent date 
(perhaps 1870), had a very long full skirt of cloth which it 
was customary to pin or otherwise fasten below the feet of 
the wearer when mounted. The habit used at present is 
much shorter, and close-fitting. The edge or hem of the 
skirt is sometimes loaded. 
Nor can pronounce upon it 
If one should ask me whether 
The habit, hat, and feather, 
Or the frock and gypsy bonnet 
Be the neater and completer. 
Tennyson, Maud, xx. 1. 
2673 
Great habit, great and angelic habit, in the Or. Ch. : 
(a) The dress of the highest grade of professed monks 
(caloyers) advanced from the little habit. It consists of the 
frock or himation, gown or pallium, cowl or hat, scapular. 
zone, and sandals. (//) The grade marked by this dress. 
Entering this grade involves almost entire seclusion from 
earthly things, and constant devotion to religious exer- 
cises. Most Oriental monks do not assume the great habit 
except at the approach of death, the greater number being 
vowed to the little habit only. Habit and repute, (a) 
In law, known course of life ; that condition of notoriety, or 
degree of common cognizance of one's usual habit or prac- 
tice, which the law recognizes as relevant to the proba- 
bility of a particular act, or the significance or gravity of 
it. Thus, for some purposes, a marriage may be proved by 
habit and repute. (6) In Scotland, general report: as, by 
habit and repute a thief. Little habit, in the (it. Ch. : 
(a) The dress of the intermediate or ordinary grade of 
monks. It consists of the frock or himation, the zone or 
girdle, the hat, the gown or pallium, the sandals, and the 
mandyas or mantle. (6) The grade marked by this dress. 
Those who wish to enter this grade have first to pass 
through the rhasophoria or novitiate. See great habit. 
To break of a habit. See break. = Syn, 2. Usage, Prac- 
tice, etc. See custom. 
habit (hab'it), v. [< ME. habitcn, < OF. habiter, 
F. habiter = Pr. Sp. Pg. habitar = It. abitare, < 
L. habitare, intr., dwell, abide, keep, freq. of 
habere, have, hold, keep : see have, andcf. habit, 
n., on which the verb in some senses directly 
depends. Cf. inhabit."] I.t intrans. To dwell ; 
abide; reside. 
So every spirit, as it is most pure, 
And hath in it the more of heavenly light, 
So it the fairer bodie doth procure 
To habit in. Spenser, In Honour of Beau tie, 1. 130. 
II. traits. If. To dwell in ; inhabit. 
In many places were nyghtyngales, 
Alpes, fynches, and wodewales, 
That in her swete song deliten, 
In thilke places as they habiten. 
Bom. of the Kose, 1. 660. 
Happely you may come to the citie Siberia, or to some 
other towne or place habited vpon or neere the border of it. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 435. 
2f. To fix by custom ; accustom; habituate. 
O y' are a shrewd one ; and so habited 
In taking heed ; thou knowst not what it is 
To be unwary. Chapman, Odyssey, v. 
3. To dress; clothe; array. 
I saw part of the ceremony of an audience of the grand 
vizier, and was habited in the caftan. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 132. 
They habited themselves like those rural deities, and 
imitated them in their rustick dances. Dryden. 
The primary end of being habited seems to have been 
protection. Harris, Philosophical Arrangements, xiv. 
habitability (hab'i-ta-bU'i-ti), . [= F. habi- 
tabilite; as habitable 4- -ity: see -bHity.~\ Hab- 
itableness. 
An admirable provision this is for the perpetuity of the 
globe, and to continue the state and habitability thereof 
throughout all ages. Derham, Astro-Theology, vi. 2. 
habitable (hab'i-ta-bl), a. [< ME. habitable, < 
OF. habitable, F. habitable = Pr. Sp. habitable 
= Pg. habitavel = It. abitabile, < L. habitabilis, 
habitable, < habitare, dwell : see habit, .] Ca- 
pable of being inhabited or dwelt in; suited 
to serve as an abode for human beings : as, a 
habitable house ; the habitable world. 
I would through all the regions habitable 
Search thee, and, having found thee, with my sword 
Drive thee about the world. 
Beau, and Ft., King and No King, i. 1. 
Tis said the sound of a Messiah's birth 
Is gone through all the habitable earth. 
Dryden, Eeligio Laici, 1. 175. 
habitableness (hab'i-ta-bl-nes), n. The state of 
being habitable ; capacity of being inhabited. 
habitably (hab'i-ta-bli), adv. In a habitable 
manner; so as to be habitable, 
habitaclet (hab'i-ta-kl), n. [< ME. habitacle, 
habytakyll, < OF. habitacle, F. habitacle = Pr. 
habitacle, abitacle = Sp. habitdculo = Pg. habi- 
taculo = It. abitacolo, < L. habitaculum, a dwell- 
' ing-place, < habitare, dwell: see habit, r. Cf. 
habitacule, and also the abbr. forms bittacle, bin- 
nacle."] 1. A dwelling-place; a habitation. 
But yet all that do vysyte that holy habytakyll. 
Joseph ofArimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 44. 
Volucrumdomus, the Habitacle of birds. Norden, 1593. 
Fortune hath set his happy habitacle 
Among the ancient hills, near mountain streams. 
And lakes pellucid. Southey. 
2. A recess, alcove, or niche. 
In eche of the pynacles 
Weren sondry habUacles. 
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1194. 
habitaculet, [< L. habitaculum, a dwelling- 
place: see habitacle.'] Same as habitacle, 1. 
And thys Citee of Candi was sum tyme the habitacule and 
lordshippe of the Kyng Mynos. 
Torlnngton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 20. 
habitancet (hab'i-tans), n. [< habit + -ance."\ 
Dwelling; abode; residence. 
habitual 
What art thou, man (if man at all thou art), 
That here in desert hast thine habitaunce? 
Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 7. 
habitancy (hab'i-tan-si), . Inhabitance. 
habitant (liab'i-tarit), n. [< F. habitant = Sp. 
Pg. lutbitantv = It. abitante (ppr. of F. habili-r, 
etc.), < L. habitan(t-)s, ppr. of habitare, dwell: 
see habit, c., and cf. inhabitant, inhabit.'} 1. 
A dweller ; a resident ; an inhabitant. 
The habitants did professe the law ol the Gentiles. 
Hakluyt's Vixjaijen, I. 324. 
Those argent fields more likely habitants, 
Translated saints, or middle spirits, hold, 
Betwixt the angelical and human kind. 
Milton, P. L., iii. 460. 
Oh Love ! no habitant of earth thou art. 
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 121. 
No longer now the winged habitants 
That in the woods their sweet lives sing away 
Flee from the form of man. Shelley, Queen Mab, viii. 
Specifically 2. [F. prpn. a-be-ton'; F. pi. for- 
merly habitant.'] A native of Canada of French 
descent, especially of the farming or peasant 
class. 
At Lake Megantic, General Arnold met an emissary 
whom he had sent in advance to ascertain the feelings of 
the habitans, or French yeomanry. 
Irving, Washington, II. 96. 
The Lower Town market-places, with their caleches and 
long-bodied French carts, are tilled with the habitants 
twice a week. Harper's Hag., LXXVI. 368. 
habitat (hab'i-tat). [< L. habitat, 'it dwells' 
or 'it lives,' 3d pers. sing. pres. ind. of habi- 
tare, dwell: see habit, .] 1. It lives or dwells: 
a Latin word beginning (in New Latin) that 
part of the description of an animal or a plant 
which mentions its locality: as, habitat in Ame- 
rica septentrionali (it lives or grows in North 
America). Such statements are usually ab- 
breviated, as Hub. Am. Sept. 2. n. In nat. hist., 
the area or region where an animal or a plant 
naturally lives or grows; by extension, place 
of abode in general; habitation. The complete 
habitat of a species is its geographical range. Applied, 
as it commonly is, to an individual or a specimen, it is 
generally distinguished in botany from the station, which 
refers to the physical conditions surrounding the plant, 
such as soil, exposure, and elevation. See station. 
The members of that [human] stock, spreading into dif- 
ferent habitats, fall under different sets of conditions. 
H. Spencer, Study of Soclol., p. 338. 
Things are good for nothing out of their natural habitat. 
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 8. 
Of course a poet must represent his age and habitat. 
Stedman, Poets of America, p. 4. 
He [Huxley] describes living creatures by structure. The 
Mosaic writer describes them by habitat. 
Pop. Set. Mo., XXVIII. 618. 
habitation (hab-i-ta'shon), n. [< OF. habita- 
tion, F. habitation = Pr. Sp. habitation = Pg. 
habitaqflo = It. abitazione, < L. habitatio(n-), a 
dwelling, < habitare, dwell: see habit, .] 1. 
The act of inhabiting, or the state of being in- 
habited; occupancy. 
For want of habitation and repair, 
Dissolve to heaps of ruins. Sir J. Denham. 
For their shipping is of two sorts, one for saile, another 
for habitation also. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 437. 
It [arson] is an offence against that right of habitation 
which is acquired by the law of nature as well as by the 
laws of society. Blackstone, Com., IV. xvi. 
2. Place of abode ; a settled dwelling ; a place 
or structure constituting an abode, as of men 
or animals. 
It was so thikke of busshes and of thornes and breres 
that noon wolde haue wende [thought] that ther hadde be 
[been] eny habitacion. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 517. 
As imagination bodies forth 
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name. Shak., M. N. D., v. 1. 
=Syn. 2. Domicile, quarters. 
habitatort (hab'i-ta-tor), . [= F. haUtateur 
= Pr. habitaire, habitador = Sp. Pg. habitador 
= It. abitatore, < L. habitator, < habitare, dwell : 
see habit, .] A dweller; an inhabitant. 
The longest day in Cancer is longer unto us then that 
in Capricorn unto the Southern habitator. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 10. 
habit-cloth (hab'it-kloth), n. A light broad- 
cloth especially adapted for women's riding- 
habits, but often used for other outer garments. 
habit-maker (hab'it -marker), n. One who 
makes habits ; specifically, a maker of women's 
riding-habits. 
habit;Shirt (hab'it -shert), n. A garment of 
muslin or similar material worn by women on 
the neck and shoulders, under the dress, usu- 
ally having some resemblance to the collar, 
shirt-bosom, etc., worn by men. 
habitual (ha-bit'u-al), a. [< F. habitucl = Pr. 
Sp. Pg. habitual = It. abituale, < ML. habit IK/UK 
