Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

cable

[key-buh l]
See more synonyms for cable on Thesaurus.com
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.
Show More
verb (used with object), ca·bled, ca·bling.
  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. cable television
Show More
verb (used without object), ca·bled, ca·bling.
  1. to send a message by cable.
  2. to cable-stitch.
Show More

Origin of cable

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
Related formsca·ble·like, adjectivere·ca·ble, verb, re·ca·bled, re·ca·bling.un·ca·bled, adjective

Cable

[key-buh l]
noun
  1. George Washington,1844–1925, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cable

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • "The cable would have handled that end of it, I guess," she said, succinctly.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • It was the only cable we used for the first twenty-four hours.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • The following letter, received by the French cable, explains itself.

  • We brought the ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better end.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • The action was fought nearly at the distance of a cable's length from the enemy.

British Dictionary definitions for cable

cable

noun
  1. a strong thick rope, usually of twisted hemp or steel wire
  2. nautical an anchor chain or rope
    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 lengtha unit of length in nautical use that has various values, including 100 fathoms (600 feet)
  4. a wire or bundle of wires that conducts electricitya submarine cable See also coaxial 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
Show More
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
Show More

Word Origin

C13: from Old Norman French, from Late Latin capulum halter
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cable

n.

c.1200, from Old North French cable, from Medieval Latin capulum "lasso, rope, halter for cattle," from Latin capere "to take, seize" (see capable). Technically, in nautical use, a rope 10 or more inches around; in non-nautical use, a rope of wire (not hemp or fiber). Given a new range of senses in 19c.: Meaning "message received by telegraphic cable" is from 1883 (short for cable message). Cable car is from 1879. Cable television first attested 1963; shortened form cable is from 1972.

Show More

v.

c.1500, "to tie up with cables;" 1871, American English, "to transmit by cable;" from cable (n.). Related: Cabled; cabling.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper