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.

---

Etymology

Origin of cable's length

First recorded in 1545–55

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cable's length

She had hardly made a cable's length, however, when the Captain received a message semaphored from the quay to the effect that his agent had secured enough goods to complete his freight.

From The Girl Crusoes A Story of the South Seas by Mrs. Herbert Strang

The western entrance is barely a cable's length in width, while the island of Nangkauri has hardly any fair-way for vessels along its exterior coast-line.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Karl Ritter von Scherzer

Closing to within a cable's length of the Warrior he signalled: "Request permission to take off my sub-lieutenant."

From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

Steering straight for the Detroit, a vessel a fourth larger than his own, he gave orders to have the schooners that lagged behind close up within half cable's length.

From The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2 by Joel Tyler Headley

Here, lying about a cable's length off, was a submarine of the "E" type.

From The Fight for Constantinople A Story of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---