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

When Ostgaard and his companions were descending the switchbacks they encountered the body of another hiker who had apparently fallen above a section of steel safety cables and then slid another 70 ft, or so.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Kruglov had worked as a fiber optics cable installer in New York, but a little over a year ago, he left the city to embark on a walkabout.

Read more on Salon

Starting Nov. 15, the progressive-leaning cable news channel will be called MS NOW — an acronym for My Source, News, Opinion and World.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Dozens of high-speed train trips were disrupted in France on Monday after fire was set to some cables, officials said, including between Paris and the south of the country.

Read more on Barron's

After that we did the ability test, gauging how we performed different compound movements — meaning multi-joint movements using major muscle groups — on machines or with hand-held weights, cables or bars.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cord 
• link 
• rope 
• wire