cable

¹

[key-buhl]

noun

1. a heavy, strong rope.

2. a very strong rope made of strands of metal wire, as used to support cable cars or suspension bridges.

3. a cord of metal wire used to operate or pull a mechanism.

4. Nautical.

   1. a thick hawser made of rope, strands of metal wire, or chain.

   2. cable's length.

5. Electricity.,  an insulated electrical conductor, often in strands, or a combination of electrical conductors insulated from one another.

6. cablegram.

7. cable television.

8. cable-stitch.

9. Architecture.,  one of a number of reedings set into the flutes of a column or pilaster.

verb (used with object)

cabled, cabling 

1. to send (a message) by cable.

2. to send a cablegram to.

3. to fasten with a cable.

4. to furnish with a cable.

5. to join (cities, parts of a country, etc.) by means of a cable television network.

   The state will be completely cabled in a few years.

verb (used without object)

cabled, cabling 

1. to send a message by cable.

2. to cable-stitch.

Cable

²

[key-buhl]

noun

1. George Washington, 1844–1925, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.

cable

/ ˈkeɪbəl /

noun

1. a strong thick rope, usually of twisted hemp or steel wire

2. nautical an anchor chain or rope

3. 1. a unit of distance in navigation, equal to one tenth of a sea mile (about 600 feet)

   2. Also called: cable length.  cable's length. a unit of length in nautical use that has various values, including 100 fathoms (600 feet)

4. a wire or bundle of wires that conducts electricity See also coaxial cable

   a submarine cable

5. Also called: overseas telegram.  international telegram.  cablegram. a telegram sent abroad by submarine cable, radio, communications satellite, or by telephone line

6. See cable stitch

7. short for cable television

verb

1. to send (a message) to (someone) by cable

2. (tr) to fasten or provide with a cable or cables

3. (tr) to supply (a place) with or link (a place) to cable television

Other Word Forms

• cablelike adjective
• recable verb
• uncabled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cable¹

1175–1225; Middle English, probably < Old North French *cable < Late Latin capulum lasso; compare Latin capulāre to rope, halter (cattle), akin to capere to take

Word History and Origins

Origin of cable¹

C13: from Old Norman French, from Late Latin capulum halter

Example Sentences

A small percentage of installations - 6% for external and 2% of internal insulation - posed an "immediate health and safety risk" from faults such as exposed live electrical cabling or blocked boiler ventilation, it said.

Read more on BBC

US law enforcement in turn contacted British police, who raided the defendant's flat in Potters Field and found an "abduction kit" complete with cable ties and bottles of chloroform.

Read more on BBC

Driven by a shift to streaming, U.S. cable viewership has fallen significantly in recent years.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The next day the ship sailed over the cable off of Gotland, and its dragging anchor severed it.

Read more on Barron's

Besides its movie and TV studios, Paramount owns the CBS broadcast network, cable networks including MTV and Comedy Central and the Paramount+ streaming service.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cord 
• link 
• rope 
• wire