Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"articles of consumption," 1802, from consumable.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of consumable English)
Wikipedia
__NOTOC__ Consumables (also known as consumable goods, nondurable goods, or soft goods) are goods that, according to the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, are capable of being consumed; that may be destroyed, dissipated, wasted, or spent. John Locke specifies these as "consumable commodities." People have, for example, always consumed food and water. Consumables are in contrast to durable goods.
Consumables are products that consumers use recurrently, i.e., items which "get used up" or discarded. For example consumable office supplies are such products as paper, pens, file folders, Post-it notes, and toner or ink cartridges. This is in contrast to capital goods or durable goods in the office, such as computers, fax machines, and other business machines or office furniture.
For arc welding one uses a consumable electrode. This is an electrode that conducts electricity to the arc but also melts into the weld as a filler metal.
Consumable or disposable products associated with the preparation or presentation of serving food include but is not limited to plastic, foam, paper goods and cleaning supplies.
Consumable goods are usually excluded from warranty policies, as it is considered that covering them would excessively increase the cost of the premium.
Usage examples of "consumables".
We have detected the presence of more than a thousand beings aboard the ship, yet they have with them enough consumables to last for only a few months, at best.
Pralla Portside Consumables Monitor, I offer my apologies to you as well.
We can only put up so much mass, and so we trade consumables for instruments.
They've got a big booster, and they're taking up a lot of consumables they'll share with our team.
Provided we can have immediate action in the matter of topping up stores and medical consumables and there are no oversized e-ts getting underfoot-"
Power, light, communication and translation facilities are available, but you are no longer connected to the main air supply system or to the automatic food distribution network, nor will you receive medical consumables of any kind.
He ran quickly through the parameters of the cluster's operation: consumables usage, attitude control propellant usage, cryogenic store boiloff.