cable's length
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of cable's length
First recorded in 1545–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Closing to within a cable's length of the Warrior he signalled: "Request permission to take off my sub-lieutenant."
From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
"Us be overtakin' them," and he nodded in the direction of the two boats that were still leading by less than a cable's length.
From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
Steering straight for the Detroit, a vessel a fourth larger than his own, he gave orders to have the schooners that lagged behind close up within half cable's length.
From The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2 by Headley, Joel Tyler
The "Cacafuego" was swiftly overtaken, and when within a cable's length a voice hailed her to put her head into the wind.
From School Reading by Grades Sixth Year by Baldwin, James
The Adventure was moored in seventeen fathoms, about a cable's length within the low green point on the south side: and the Chanticleer lay in ten fathoms near the head of the Cove.
From Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836 Volume I. - Proceedings of the First Expedition, 1826-1830 by Fitzroy, Robert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
