Q:

can you assign draggable like how you add events to a arb node and a selector?

You can do something like:
 function myFunct(){/*.....*/}
 $("body").on("click", "li.itemlist", function(){
     alert("ping");
 });

which would have all li.itemlist under body to have the click event.
Is there a way to convert:
 var _OPTIONS_ = {
     containment: "#stage", 
     start:function(){/*...*/}, 
     drag:function(){/*...*/}, 
     stop:function(){/*...*/} 
 };

 $("li.itemlist").draggable(_OPTIONS_);

to:
 $("body").on("draggable", "li.itemlist", _OPTIONS_);

EDIT:  I have not tried the second one.  I didnt think it would work because draggable is a JQuery function, not a standard js listener.

A:

No, but there is another way to do it.
$("body").on("mouseenter","li.itemlist:not(.draginit)",function(){
    $(this).draggable(_OPTIONS_).addClass("draginit");
})

The first time the element is moused over, the draggable widget will be applied to it.
I'd suggest using something better than body though, such as the ul.

