NAVIGABILITY
Nav`i*ga*bil"i*ty, n. Etym: [Cf. F. navigabilité.]
Defn: The quality or condition of being navigable; navigableness.
NAVIGABLE
Nav"i*ga*ble, a. Etym: [L. navigabilis: cf. F. navigable. See
Navigate.]
Defn: Capable of being navigated; deep enough and wide enough to afford passage to vessels; as, a navigable river.
Note: By the comon law, a river is considered as navigable only so far as the tide ebbs and flows in it. This is also the doctrine in several of the United tates. In other States, the doctrine of thje civil law prevails, which is, that a navigable river is a river capable of being navigated, in the common sense of the term. Kent. Burrill. — Nav"i*ga*ble*ness, n. — Nav"i*ga*bly, adv.
NAVIGATE
Nav"i*gate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Navigated; p. pr. & vb. n.
Navigating.] Etym: [L. navigatus, p.p. of navigare, v.t. & i.; navis
ship + agere to move, direct. See Nave, and Agent.]
Defn: To joirney by water; to go in a vessel or ship; to perform the duties of a navigator; to use the waters as a highway or channel for commerce or communication; to sail. The Phenicians navigated to the extremities of the Western Ocean. Arbuthnot.
NAVIGATE
Nav"i*gate, v. t.
1. To pass over in ships; to sail over or on; as, to navigate the Atlantic.
2. To steer, direct, or manage in sailing; to conduct (ships) upon the water by the art or skill of seamen; as, to navigate a ship.