gable
1 Americannoun
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the portion of the front or side of a building enclosed by or masking the end of a pitched roof.
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a decorative member suggesting a gable, used especially in Gothic architecture.
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Also called gable wall. a wall bearing a gable.
noun
noun
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the triangular upper part of a wall between the sloping ends of a pitched roof ( gable roof )
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a triangular ornamental feature in the form of a gable, esp as used over a door or window
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the triangular wall on both ends of a gambrel roof
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gable
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Old French (of Germanic origin); cognate with Old Norse gafl; compare Old English gafol, geafel “a fork”
Explanation
A gable is the triangular part of a house's exterior wall that supports a pointed or peaked roof. Gothic-style houses are well known for their many gables. Houses and buildings with pitched roofs have front-facing or side-facing gables — or often, both. The shape and structure of these pointed gables help support a house's roof and give the building a particular architectural style. Nathaniel Hawthorne famously wrote about a building with this architectural feature in The House of the Seven Gables. Gable, originally an Old French word meaning "facade or front," is from the Old Norse gafl, "gable-end," or "gable."
Vocabulary lists containing gable
The Cay
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Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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Learning Down The House: Parts of Your Home
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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.
Years later, co-star Shirley Jones said Sinatra actually quit to be with his wife, Ava Gardner, who had threatened to have an affair with Clark Gable.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
The academy, previously named Ortu Gable Hall School under its former administration, was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted in its most recent inspection in May 2022.
From BBC • Dec. 9, 2025
His office is full of memorabilia from his own projects mixed with photos of Old Hollywood, including one signed by George Burns and a portrait of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe from “The Misfits.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2025
It used to be a hotel rumored to have ties to Clark Gable, and all of the 100-year-old architectural details are original.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025
The movie star Clark Gable visited the hotel, and I once got to meet a duke and duchess from England.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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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.