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

His quick eye had discerned a suspicious swirl on the surface within a cable's length of the picket-boat's starboard bow.

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

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 Scherzer, Karl Ritter von

After another broadside the pirate backed her main topsail and hove to at less than a cable's length off.

From A Lad of Grit A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

The squalls were terrifically violent, and astern of her, distant only half a cable's length, were rocks and low rocky islets, upon which a furious surf raged.

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

Why, she's not a cable's length from where you are.

From Submarine U93 by Gilson, Charles