cable's length

American  

Or cable length

noun

1. a nautical unit of length equivalent to 720 feet (219 meters) in the U.S. Navy and 608 feet (185 meters) in the British Navy.

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Etymology

Origin of cable's length

First recorded in 1545–55

Example Sentences

By this time the dhow, which was coming up "hand over fist", was about a cable's length astern.

From The Wireless Officer by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

The next day the Boyne weighed anchor, and was towed by boats round from the bay of Baillif to the road of Basse Terre, where she anchored within a cable's length of the shore.

From An Account of the Campaign in the West Indies, in the Year 1794, Under the Command of their Excellencies Lieutenant General Sir Charles Grey, K.B., and Vice Admiral Sir John Jervis, K.B. by Willyams, Cooper

Having gained some distance to windward, while the snow was so thick it was impossible to see the shore, we made sail across the Strait, and hit the place within a cable's length.

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

She was now within half a cable's length of the Pelikan, which to prevent herself being in collision was obliged to veer out her cable.

From Rounding up the Raider A Naval Story of the Great War by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

Smartly handled, she worked her way in through the narrow, land-locked entrance; then luffing up into the wind, she dropped anchor within a cable's length of the Golden Hope.

From The Quest of the 'Golden Hope' A Seventeenth Century Story of Adventure by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)