▪ I. cabal, n.1
(kəˈbæl)
Also 7–8 caball, cabbal.
[a. F. cabale (16th c. in Littré), used in all the English senses, ad. med.L. cab(b)ala (It., Sp., Pg. cabala), cabbala, q.v. In 17th c. at first pronounced ˈcabal (whence the abridged cab n.5); the current pronunciation was evidently reintroduced from Fr., perh. with sense 5 or 6.]
† 1. = cabbala 1: The Jewish tradition as to the interpretation of the Old Testament. Obs.
| 1616 Bullokar, Cabal, the tradition of the Jewes doctrine of religion. 1660 Howell Lex. Tetragl., Words do involve the deepest Mysteries, By them the Jew into his Caball pries. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 530 For Mystick Learning, wondrous able In Magick, Talisman, and Cabal. |
† 2. = cabbala 2: a. Any tradition or special private interpretation. b. A secret. Obs.
| a 1637 B. Jonson (O.) The measuring of the temple, a cabal found out but lately. 1635 D. Person Varieties i. Introd. 3 An insight in the Cabals and secrets of Nature. 1660–3 J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 344 If the truth..had been still reserved as a Cabbal amongst men. 1663 J. Heath Flagellum or O. Cromwell 192 How the whole mystery and cabal of this business was managed by the..Committee. a 1763 Shenstone Ess. 220 To suppose that He will regulate His government according to the cabals of human wisdom. |
3. A secret or private intrigue of a sinister character formed by a small body of persons; ‘something less than conspiracy’ (J.).
| 1646–7 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1702) I. v. 439 The King..asked him, whether he were engaged in any Cabal concerning the army? 1663 J. Heath Flagellum or O. Cromwell, He was no sooner rid of the danger of this but he was puzzled with Lambert's cabal. 1707 Freind Peterboro's Cond. Sp. 171 The contrivances and cabals of others have too often prevail'd. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 30 There were cabals breaking out in the company. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. xlvi. 299 The cabal against Washington found supporters exclusively in the north. |
b. as a species of action; = caballing.
| 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) III. 22 To advance themselves..by cabal, treachery and violence. 1791 Burke Th. on Fr. Affairs VII. 74 Centres of cabal. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. 261 Restless activity and the arts of cabal. |
4. A secret or private meeting, esp. of intriguers or of a faction. arch. or Obs.
| 1649 Bp. Guthrie Mem. (1702) 23 The Supplicants..met again at their several Caballs. 1656–7 Cromwell in Burton Diary (1828) I. 382 He had never been at any cabal about the same. 1715 Bentley Serm. x. 356 A mercenary conclave and nocturnal Cabal of Cardinals. 1738 Warburton Div. Legat. I. 169 Celebrate the Mysteries in a private Cabal. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall iii. 23 To tell the anecdote..at those little cabals, that will occasionally take place among the most orderly servants. |
b. phrase. in cabal. arch. or Obs.
| a 1678 Marvell Poems Wks. I. Pref. 8 Is he in caball in his cabinett sett. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 28 The gunner and second mate were in a close cabal together. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. (1810) 55 Here, in cabal, a disputatious crew Each evening meet. |
5. A small body of persons engaged in secret or private machination or intrigue; a junto, clique, côterie, party, faction.
| 1660 Trial Regic. 175 You were..of the cabal. 1670 Marvell Corr. cxlvii. Wks. 1872–5 II. 326 The governing cabal are Buckingham, Lauderdale, Ashly, Orery, and Trevor. Not but the other cabal [Arlington, Clifford, and their party] too have seemingly sometimes their turn. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. v. §21 A gentleman who has been idle at college, and kept idle company, will judge a whole university by his own cabal. 1767 G. Canning Poet. Wks. (1827) 56 Should Fat Jack and his Cabal Cry ‘Rob us the Exchequer, Hal!’ 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 183 In Naples, where a cabal of artists was formed. |
6. Applied in the reign of Charles II to the small committee or junto of the Privy Council, otherwise called the ‘Committee for Foreign Affairs’, which had the chief management of the course of government, and was the precursor of the modern cabinet.
| 1665 Pepys Diary 14 Oct., It being read before the King, Duke, and the Caball, with complete applause. 1667 Ibid. 31 Mar., Walked to my Lord Treasurer's, where the King, Duke of York, and the Cabal, and much company withal. 1667 Ibid. (1877) V. 128 The Cabal at present, being as he says the King, and the Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Keeper, the Duke of Albemarle and privy seale. |
b. in Hist. applied spec. to the five ministers of Charles II, who signed the Treaty of Alliance with France for war against Holland in 1672: these were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley (Earl of Shaftesbury), and Lauderdale, the initials of whose names thus arranged chanced to spell the word cabal.
This was merely a witticism referring to sense 6; in point of fact these five men did not constitute the whole ‘Cabal’, or Committee for Foreign Affairs; nor were they so closely united in policy as to constitute a ‘cabal’ in sense 5, where quot. 1670 shows that three of them belonged to one ‘cabal’ or clique, and two to another. The name seems to have been first given to the five ministers in the pamphlet of 1673 ‘England's Appeal from the private Cabal at White-hall to the Great Council of the nation..by a true lover of his country.’ Modern historians often write loosely of the Buckingham-Arlington administration from the fall of Clarendon in 1667 to 1673 as the Cabal Cabinet or Cabal Ministry.
| 1673 England's Appeal 18 The safest way not to wrong neither the cabal nor the truth is to take a short survey of the carriage of the chief promoters of this war. 1689 Mem. God's 29 Years Wonders §25. 72 The great Ahitophel, the chiefest head-piece..of all the Cabal. 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 430 This junta..being called the cabal, it was observed that cabal proved a technical word, every letter in it being the first letter of those five, Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington and Lauderdale. a 1734 North Exam. iii. vi. ¶41. 453 The..Promoters of Popery, supposed to rise by the Misfortunes of the Earl of Clarendon, were the famous CABAL. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxix. 163 When the Cabal entered into the mysterious alliance with France. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1864) I. 101 It happened by a whimsical coincidence that, in 1671, the Cabinet consisted of five persons the initial letters of whose names made up the word Cabal..These ministers were therefore emphatically called the Cabal; and they soon made that appellation so infamous that it has never since their time been used except as a term of reproach. |
7. attrib. or in obvious comb.
| 1673 R. Leigh Transp. Reh. 36 By this time, the Politick Cabal-men were most of 'um set. 1674 R. Law Mem. (1818) 61 The parliament was jealous of their caball lords. 1678 Trans Crt. Spain 189 They maintain themselves only by a Cabal-genius, without any foundation of justice or fidelity. 1700 Congreve Way of W. i. i, Last night was one of their cabal nights. 1871 W. Christie Life Shaftesbury II. xii. 81 The heavy indictment of History against the so-called Cabal Ministry. |
▪ II. † cabal, n.2 Obs.
(See quot.)
| 1613 Purchas Pilgr. I. v. xiv. (1617) 517 The Cabal is a wilde Beast in this Island [Java] whose bones doe restraine the blood from issuing in wounded parties. |
▪ III. cabal, v.
(kəˈbæl)
[a. F. cabale-r, f. cabale n.; or ? f. the Eng. n.]
1. intr. To combine (together) for some secret or private end. (Usually in a bad sense.)
| a 1680 [see caballing vbl. n.]. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 46 Time to club and cabal together. 1814 D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 409 A club of wits caballed and produced a collection of short poems. 1885 Manch. Exam. 16 June 5/1 Caballing together for their private ends. |
2. intr. To intrigue privately (against).
| 1680 Sir W. Soame Art Poetry (Dryden) iv, Base rivals..Caballing still against it. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 28 They would be..caballing and making an interest among the men. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. 1842 II. 535 Elfrida caballed in favour of her son. 1789 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 116 Time has been given..to cabal, to sow dissensions, etc. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 494 The barons..began to cabal against his succession. |
3. refl. To bring oneself by caballing.
| 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 340 In this time he may cabal himself into a superiority over the wisest. |