▪ I. cable, n.
(ˈkeɪb(ə)l)
Forms: 3–4 kable, 5–7 cabul(le, cabyl, -il, -ille, -el, -ell, -elle, (5–6 gable, gabyll), 3– cable.
[ME. cable, cabel, kable, identical with Du. kabel, MDu. cābel, MLG. kabel, MHG. and Ger. kabel, all app. from Romanic: cf. F. câble, Sp. cable, Pg. cabre, all meaning ‘cable’, It. cappio sliding knot, noose, gin:—late L. capulum, caplum a halter for catching or fastening cattle, according to Isidore f. capĕre to take ‘quod eo indomita jumenta comprehendantur’: cf. capulum, -us, ‘handle, haft’, capulā-re to take, catch, etc.
(There are difficulties as to F. câble, older forms of which were caable, chaable, chéable, châble, which point, through *cadable, to a L. *catabola a kind of ballista for hurling stones, etc., in which sense chaable also occurs: see Cabulus in Du Cange. Littré supposes an early confusion between this and *cable from Isidore's capulum; others think that as the catabola was put in motion with ropes, it may be the real source. But this does not account for the Sp. and It. words.]
1. a. A strong thick rope, originally of hemp or other fibre, now also of strands of iron wire.
Originally a stout rope of any thickness, but now, in nautical use, a cable (of hemp, jute, etc.) is 10 inches in circumference and upwards; ropes of less thickness being called cablets or hawsers. In other than nautical use (see 2), rope is commonly used when the material is hemp or fibre (as in the ‘rope’ by which a train is drawn up an incline), and cable when the material is wire.
| c 1205 Lay. 1338 He hihte hondlien kablen [c 1275 cables]. c 1320 Sir Guy 4613 Sche come..Doun of þe castel in sel⁓couþe wise Bi on cable alle sleyeliche. c 1340 Cursor M. 24848 (Fairf.) Þe mast hit shoke, þe cablis [earlier MSS. cordis] brast. c 1392 Chaucer Compl. Venus 33 Þaughe Ialousye wer hanged by a Kable Sheo wolde al knowe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 862 Alle þe gables of þe shippe þey broston a to. 1535 Coverdale Eccles. iv. 12 A threfolde cable is not lightly broken. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. iii. 135 Smal cables for the artillery. 1626 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. 170 He..ouerthrowes With cabels, and innumerable blowes, The sturdy Oke. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 34 A Cable of three inches round and of good Stuff, will do better for Coal-work. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 336/2 The platform [of a suspension-bridge at the Isle of Bourbon] is suspended from four cables..and each cable consists of fifteen bundles of eighty wires each. |
b. fig.| 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. xviii. §10 The whole body politic should be..a threefold cable. 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. ii. 17 He will..put vpon you what restraint or greeuance The Law..will giue him Cable. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxix. i. 351 He unfolded..a huge long cable of villanies. 1616 R. C. Times' Whis. vi. 2343 Linckt together with sinnes ougly cable. |
c. it is easier for a cable to go through the eye of a needle, a variant rendering of
Matt. xix. 24, Mark x. 25, Luke xviii. 25, adopted by Sir J. Cheke, and cited by many writers.
[This represents a variant interpretation of
Gr. κάµηλον in this passage, mentioned already by Cyril of Alexandria in the 5th c. Subsequently a variant reading κάµῑλον (found in several late cursive
MSS.) was associated with this rendering, and Suidas (? 11th c.) makes distinct words of κάµῑλος ‘cable’, κάµηλος camel. Some
Mod.Gr. dictionaries have also κάµιλος cable.]
| c 1530 More De Quatuor Nouiss. Wks. (1557) 92 It were as harde for the riche manne to come into heauen, as a great cable or a Camel to go through a nedles eye. c 1550 Cheke Matt. xix. 24 It is easier for a cable to passe thorough a nedels eie, ẏen for a rich man to enter in to y⊇ kingdoom of heaven. [Marg. note. Although y{supt} Suidas seem to sai κάµιλος to be for a cable roop, and κάµηλος for y⊇ beest, iet theophylactus..and Celius..taak κάµηλος to be booẏ y⊇ beest and y⊇ cable, as moost season agreeabli serveth heer.] 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 540 It is impossible for a Camell (or Cable, that is a great rope of a ship)..to go through a needles eye. 1657 S. Colvil Whig's Supplic. (1695) 49 An honest Clergyman will be When Cable passeth Needles eye. 1840 Marryat Olla Podr., S.W. & by W., If he were as incompetent as a camel (or, as they say at sea, a cable) to pass through the eye of a needle. |
d. Short for
cable-stitch (see 7).
| 1943 Mary Thomas's Bk. Knitting Patt. 74 The effect is a vertical Waved Rib, not a Cable. |
2. a. spec. (
Naut.) The strong thick rope to which a ship's anchor is fastened; and by transference, anything used for the same purpose, as a chain of iron links (
chain cable).
‘
Stream-cable, a hawser or rope something smaller than the bower, used to move or hold the ship temporarily during a calm in a river or haven, sheltered from the wind and sea, etc.’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.)
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 418 With-outen mast, oþer myke, oþer myry bawe-lyne, Kable, oþer capstan to clyppe to her ankrez. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2848 Þai caste ancres full kene with cables to grounde. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 96 Eneas..cutte asondre the cables that with helde the shippe within the hauen. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. iv. 4 The Cable broke, the holding-Anchor lost. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. vii. 30 The Cables also carry a proportion to the Anchors, but if it be not three strond, it is accounted but a Hawser. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) s.v. Admiral, They may be ready to cut or slip the cables when they shall be too much hurried to weigh their anchors. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 185 Slip the cable and endeavour to get to sea. 1885 Annandale Imp. Dict. s.v., Chain-cables have now almost superseded rope-cables. |
b. fig. Also in
phr. to cut (the) cable(s): to depart; to make a break.
| 1635 Quarles Embl. iii. xi. (1718) 169 Pray'r is the Cable, at whose end appears The anchor hope. 1677 A. Yarranton Engl. Improv. 22 The grand Banks..shall be the Anchor and Cable of all smaller Banks. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 360 Her cable had run out, and she died. 1859 Geo. Eliot Let. 8 June (1954) III. 79, I want to get rid of this house—cut cables and drift about. 1895 G. B. Shaw Let. 30 Jan. (1965) 480 By cutting the cable before the supplies are exhausted you will prove that you are not merely making the best of a bad job. 1917 ― Matter with Ireland (1962) 156 Any nation less sheepish than the English would have cut the cable long ago and insisted on having a Parliament of its own for its own affairs. |
c. a cable or cable's length, as a unit of measurement, ‘about 100 fathoms; in marine charts 607·56 feet, or one-tenth of a sea mile’ (Adml. Smyth).
| 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 381 Redde cliffes with white strakes like wayes a cable length a piece. 1665 Duke of York's Fight. Instr. xiv, To keep about the distance of half a cable from one another. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3844/4 The Two Buoys..being distant near the Length of Two Cables. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Cable..a measure of 120 fathoms, called by the English seamen a cable's length. 1778 Capt. Miller in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. Introd. 159 We got within a cable and a half of her. 1813 Southey Nelson (1854) 167 He veered half a cable, and instantly opened a tremendous fire. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xi. 26 Within two cable lengths of the shore. |
3. Telegr. a. A rope-like line used for submarine telegraphs, containing the wires along which the electric current passes, embedded in gutta percha or other insulating substance, and encased in an external sheathing of strong wire strands, resembling the wire cable of sense 1. Also
b. a bundle of insulated wires, passing through a pipe laid underground in streets, etc.
| 1854 Specif. Brett's Patent No. 10939. 21 This said cable or rope I denominate my Oceanic Line. 1852 Leisure Hour Sept. 591 Complimentary messages were transmitted by means of the cable through the waters to Dover. 1855 Wheatstone Roy. Soc. Proc. VII. 328 Experiments made with the submarine cable of the Mediterranean Electric Telegraph. 1858 Times Ann. Summary 89 The unfortunate fracture of the oceanic cable. 1864 W. Crookes Q. Jrnl. Science I. 44 The Atlantic Cable and its Teachings. 1865 Russell Atlantic Telegr. 2 Mr. Wheatstone..as early as 1840 brought before the House of Commons the project of a cable to be laid between Dover and Calais. 1880 Times 17 Dec. 5/6 [She] is reported by cable to have put into St. Thomas. 1887 Telegr. Jrnl. 4 Mar. 203/2 In our system, the cables can be easily drawn out of the iron pipes if occasion demands it. |
c. A cable message, a
cablegram.
| 1883 Bread-Winners 175 It riled me to have to pay for two cables. 1884 Pall Mall G. 6 Aug. 11/1, I was desired by my chief in New York to..give them a long ‘cable’. 1886 Daily News 4 June 6/4 The General..had received cables of greeting from the ‘comrades’ in Australasia and America. |
d. Short for
cable television (see 7).
| 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 14/8 Channel 12..announced..that it would fight any attempt to drop it from cable. 1971 T. Ledbetter in Cable Television in Cities 7/1 Cable was first introduced in remote mountainous areas where broadcast TV reception was poor. 1977 Rep. Comm. Future of Broadcasting 21 in Parl. Papers 1976 (Cmnd. 6753) VI. 1 Cable is bound to give the viewer an increase in the choice of programmes at any given time. 1982 L. Block Eight Million Ways to Die iv. 49 I'm watching a movie on cable. 1983 Listener 12 May 6/3 Cable..is an extremely expensive medium unless one can think of something remunerative which people want and which only cable can do. 1985 Village Voice (N.Y.) 8 Jan. 18/2 Cable's roots, after all, lie in the appropriation of over-the-air television signals..and the reselling of those signals for a profit. |
4. Arch.,
Goldsmith's work, etc. Also
cable-moulding. A convex moulding or ornament made in the form of a rope.
| 1859 Turner Dom. Archit. III. i. 9 Norman ornaments..particularly the billet and the cable. Ibid. ii. vii. 359 The cornice is the cable-moulding on a large scale. 1862 Athenæum 30 Aug. 277 A figure of Science, on a coral base, with a cable border. 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring L. 140 The outer edge..is also decorated with a heavy cable-moulding. |
5. (See
quot.)
| 1877 Peacock N.W. Lincoln. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cable, a long narrow strip of ground. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. (senses 1, 2)
cable-chain,
cable-coil,
cable-maker,
cable-roots,
cable-traction; (sense 3)
cable-advice,
cable-despatch,
cable-layer,
cable-laying,
cable-man,
cable-message,
cable-tank; (sense 4)
cable-border,
cable moulding,
cable pattern, etc.
| 1882 Mod. Trade Circular, Further *cable advices from the Colonies. |
| 1886 Pall Mall G. 27 Aug. 11/2 The *cable-chain makers..factory men, who make the marine or cable chains. |
| 1667 Denham Direct. Painter ii. ix. 24 See that thou..spoil All their Sea-market, and their *Cable-coyl. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 25 Aug. 3/3 There is only room in the hearts..of men for..one *cable-layer. |
| 1901 Westm. Gaz. 17 Aug. 3/2 The primary object of *cable-laying is to facilitate communications. |
| 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour F j, A roper or *cable maker. |
| 1865 Daily Tel. 19 Aug. 4/4 Mr. Canning showed the cable and the stab to the *cablemen. |
| 1877 Daily News 3 Nov. 6/5 The following *cable message has been received..from New York. |
| 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. iii, Pines, whose *cable roots Held out a thousand storms. |
| 1865 Sat. Rev. 12 Aug. 192 The first defect was occasioned—[by] the dropping of a fragment of wire into the *cable-tank. |
| 1887 *Cable traction [see cable-grip below]. |
b. (sense 3 d)
cable channel,
cable company,
cable movie,
cable operator,
cable service,
cable show,
cable subscriber,
cable system, etc.;
cable-carried adj.| 1962 Television Soc. Jrnl. X. 88/2 The system to be described, that is the coaxial cable v.h.f. system, was conceived on a rather different basis. 1971 T. Ledbetter in C. Tate Cable Television in Cities 7/2 Cable subscribers in an isolated Pennsylvania town..actually got better reception..than people living in Philadelphia. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 18 Dec. 9/3 The FCC public-access doctrine..requires cable operators regularly to turn over time free or at reduced rate, so local individuals..and community groups can produce their shows. 1981 B. Paulu Television & Radio in U.K. vi. 99 Cable services undoubtedly will continue... Currently the cable companies are losing customers as UHF broadcast coverage improves. 1982 Daily Tel. 11 Oct. 14/3 Its arguments are that a free cable system will lower standards, will be unfair to rural communities, and will favour the rich against the poor. 1983 Wall St. Jrnl. 5 Jan. 1/4, I got a room with droopy drapes..and free cable movies. 1983 Listener 3 Feb. 38/2 It is here, on the many cable-carried public stations, that Sesame Street can be seen. 1983 Fortune 2 May 125/1 Nickelodeon,..a children's cable channel.., has no ads... Some cable shows for kids carry ads. |
7. Special comb.:
cable-bends,
cable-buoy, (see
quot.);
cable-car, a carriage moved by a chain or cable,
e.g. on an overhead cable-way;
cable-carrier, a system of tubs or buckets slung from an overhead cable for the purpose of carrying heavy materials across a space;
cable-grip (see
grip n.1 5 b); so
cable-gripper,
cable-gripping;
cable-hanger (see
quots.);
cable-hatband, a twisted cord of gold, silver, or silk, worn round the hat (
Halliw.);
cable-laid a. (see
quot.);
cable pattern (see
quot.);
cable-railroad,
-railway,
-road, one along which carriages are drawn by an endless cable;
cable-range, a given length of cable; a range of coils or rolls of cable;
cable-rope = sense 1; also, cable-laid rope;
cable-ship, a ship used to lay a submarine cable;
cable-station, a station from which a cable message may be sent;
cable-stitch, any of various twisted rope-like stitches in knitting and embroidery;
cable-stock, the capstan;
cable system, a system of traction by cable, or of telegraphy by submarine cables;
cable television,
TV, a system of television rediffusion whereby signals from a distant station are picked up by an antenna and transmitted by cable to subscribers' sets; see
television 1 a;
cable-tier, the place in a hold, or between decks, where the cables are coiled away;
cable-tools (see
quot.);
cable tramway (see
quot. 1887);
cablevision = cable television above (also a proprietary term in the
U.S.);
cable-way, (
a)
= cable-railroad; (
b) an overhead cable and apparatus for the transport of materials or passengers.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Cable-bends, two small ropes for lashing the end of a hempen cable to its own part, in order to secure the clinch by which it is fastened to the anchor-ring. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) *Cable-Buoys, common casks employed to buoy up the cables. |
| 1887 J. B. Smith Cable Traction 42 The excellent control of the *cable cars is..admirably demonstrated upon this line. 1888 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 200 Two rival processions which encumbered the streets..almost prevented our getting there in the cable-car. 1897 ‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator xvi. 161 It has an elaborate system of cable car service. 1902 E. Banks Newspaper Girl 254, I..took a cable car for Capitol Hill. |
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Cable Carrier, a means of transporting rough materials; stone, sand, lime, coal, earth, by a suspended bucket traveling on a wire cable. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 21 Nov. 8/2 Mr. Wall has discontinued the use of the overhead cable-carrier. |
| 1887 J. B. Smith Cable Traction 17 Elevated cable traction systems, for which he devised an ingenious *cable grip or catch. 1947 Life 24 Feb. 16 Cable grip fits into the slot between the tracks. With it the gripman inside the car can grasp or release the cable, which moves at a constant 9·5 mph. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 419/1 *Cable-gripper, a lever compressor over the cable-well, and by which the cable is stopped from running out. 1887 J. B. Smith Cable Traction 30 The intermediate slot through which the cable gripper passed into the interior of the tube. |
| Ibid. 16 A *cable-gripping apparatus fitted with vertically moving clamping jaws. |
| 1732 De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. (1769) I. 149 Persons who dredge or fish for Oysters [on the Medway], not being free of the Fishery, are called *Cable-hangers. |
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out Hum. Induct., Wearing a pyed feather The *cable hatband, or the three-piled ruff. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mell. ii. i. (N.) More cable, till he had as much as my cable-hatband to fence him. |
| 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6129/3 Stolen from the Fifth Moorings, Eleven Fathom of Eleven Inch *Cable laid Pendant. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) s.v. Ropes, Ropes are either cable-laid or hawser-laid: the former are composed of nine strands, viz. three great strands, each of which is composed of three smaller strands. |
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 287/1 *Cable Pattern.—This is also known as Chain Stitch. |
| 1887 J. B. Smith Cable Traction 33 The Claystreet *cable railroad was opened for public traffic in August, 1873. |
| Ibid. 15 The success that attended the working performances of early *cable railways. |
| 1883 W. C. Russell Sea Queen II. ii. 34 The men were set to work to get the *cable-range along, ready for bringing up. |
| 1882 Ideographic (San Francisco) 25 July 2/3 The *cable- or ‘grip’ road, as they term it in Cincinnati. |
| 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 833 From the anker he kutteth the *gabyll rope. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 53 At the west ende of Powlles stepull was tayed a cabelle roppe. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4882/3 About sixty Fathom of Cable Rope, about nine Inches Circumference. |
| 1885 Electrician XIV. 184/1 An additional cable..has been laid to Jersey by the Post Office's new telegraph *cable ship ‘Monarch’. 1907 Daily Chron. 18 Jan. 7/4 The cableship Henry Holmes left here for Jamaica yesterday... She goes..to repair the Colon cable. |
| 1901 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 8 Oct. 3/1 A staff of forty men will be kept at the *cable station, mostly operators. 1920 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 181/2 Chahbar was not a cable-station. |
| c 1890 tr. T. de Dillmont's Encycl. Needlework 180 *Cable or chain stitch..used for strengthening..the edges. 1899 W. G. P. Townsend Embroidery 95 Cable-stitch... The first stitch of all is to make a small link. 1950 J. Cannan Murder Included ii. 29 His cable-stitch stockings. |
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 40 The maister..bald the marynalis lay the cabil to the *cabilstok. |
| 1887 J. B. Smith Cable Traction Introd. 3 From the capabilities of the ‘*cable system’, it is now quite feasible to effect tramway communication in the most hilly districts. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 223/2 This spread of the cable system has naturally followed trade routes. |
| 1965 Variety 9 June 34/1 The state of Indiana has been asked to exercise its regulatory charges for the use of telephone facilities in the transmission of *cable television. 1972 Times 21 Jan. 2 Cable television was originally introduced in the area in 1962 to provide better reception because Shooters Hill to the south consistently interfered with television pictures. 1982 New Scientist 9 Sept. 674 Reports that the government will soon approve plans to bring cable television to Britain have appeared in almost every newspaper. |
| 1778 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. XXVI. 105 They drove us on board the frigate, and down in the *cable tier we must go. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 62 Knocking the man down into the cable tier. 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 62 The hemp cables are coiled in the cable tiers. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Cable-tools, the apparatus used in drilling deep holes, such as artesian wells, with a rope, instead of rods, to connect the drill with the machine on the surface. |
| 1887 J. B. Smith Cable Traction 2 A ‘*cable tramway’, or in other words a tramway on which the cars are drawn or hauled by means of a cable or rope receiving its motion from a stationary and distant source of power. |
| 1966 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 11 June 90/1 (heading) The coming *cable TV war. Ibid. 17 Sept. 63/1 A more dramatic way of achieving full set efficiency is Community Antenna Television (CATV), also known as ‘cable’..TV. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 27/3 A number of Metro area residents wish to form a co-operative to own and operate their own cable T.V. 1983 Listener 21 Apr. 38/1 The Government White Paper on cable TV for Britain is now expected at the end of April or the beginning of May. |
| 1965 Variety 14 July 31/3 A company to provide cable television service has been organized.., known as the Valley *Cablevision Corporation. 1971 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 15 June 186/2 Cablevision Corporation of America{ddd}For Community Antenna Television Services. First use Aug. 4, 1969. 1972 Daily Tel. 10 Aug. 17/5 The idea of cablevision is to combine a service of strictly local television programmes, aimed at a restricted audience.., with a relay service which will improve the reception of conventional BBC and ITV programmes. 1981 Economist 28 Feb. 83 A joint offer to purchase the United Artists/Columbia cablevision interests. |
| 1899 Daily News 11 Mar. 5/2 A *cableway right across the river. 1904 Alpine Jrnl. Nov. 336 The road which connects the Wetterhorn Hotel with the starting-point of the cable-way is finished. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 78/2 Cable ways, overhead cables, suitable for haulage of materials. 1962 Times 3 Jan. 18/5 Erecting a pylon..for the 45 mile cableway. |
▸
cable release n. Photogr. a remote shutter release which uses a length of cable,
esp. one consisting of a flexible tube containing a metal wire that trips the shutter.
| 1914 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Daily Republican 26 June 10/7 (advt.) Equipped with new Kodak Ball Bearing shutter with *cable release. 1958 Newnes' Compl. Amateur Photogr. 38 Besides the trigger on the camera body, the shutter can also be released by a cable... Very long cable releases are available. 1987 Pract. Photogr. Dec. 72/3 Even with the camera securely attached to a solid tripod care is still needed to avoid camera shake. Use a cable release, or self-timer to be on the safe side. 2005 TNT Mag. 7 Mar. 83/1 Usually a cable release is used to prevent camera shake for very long exposures. |
▸
cable-knit adj. and
n. (a) adj. knitted using cable-stitch;
(b) n. the pattern produced by cable-stitch; a cable-knit garment.
| 1919 Daily Kennebec (Maine) Jrnl. 6 Feb. 3 (advt.) White *cable knit caps. 1919 Washington Post 13 Dec. 16/1 (advt.) There is no make of Sweaters that excels the Pennsylvania Knitting Mills' product—and these are their popular numbers—both in the fine weave and the big cable knit. 1961 Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer 3/7 More emphasis on sweaters: High v-neck pullovers, ribbed ski knits, high-buttoned cardigans, cable knits, cashmeres. 1994 J. Birmingham He died with Felafel in his Hand (1997) viii. 177 One of the house band's dopey roadies took off his big thick sopping wet cable-knit jumper. 2000 M. Albo Hornito 187 Clothes are chosen only for the sake of comfort—..crewnecks, clammers, cableknits and surfwear. |
▪ II. cable, v. (
ˈkeɪb(ə)l)
[f. the n.] 1. a. trans. To furnish with a cable or cables; to fasten with or as with a cable, to tie
up.
| c 1500 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wem. 354 Se how I cabeld ȝone cout with a kene brydill! 1530 Palsgr. 473/1, I cable, I store a shyppe of cables. 1598 Florio, Gomenare..to cable an anker. 1605 T. Ryves Vicar's Plea (1620) 31 They are..fortefied and cabled vp with the graunts and priuiledges of Gregory the 14. 1634 Shirley Example i. i, Here I am cabled up above their shot. 1640 ― Imposture i. ii, I hope she's not turned nun..I do not like The women should be cabled up. 1800 Naval Chron. IV. 218 His Majesty's ships are insufficiently cabled. 1863 Ld. Lytton Ring Amasis II. ii. iii. xi. 273 The motive power of his being was cabled to Superstition. |
b. To equip with cable for the reception of cable television. Also (
rare) with
up.
| 1979 Washington Post 7 Jan. k5/5 So far, only the east central part of the county is cabled. 1982 Nature 11 Mar. 102/1 If most British dwellings can be ‘cabled up’—linked to some broadband distribution system capable of handling more like forty than four distinct video signals, as at present. 1982 Daily Tel. 1 Sept. 2/2 Country areas will not be cabled. 1982 Times 18 Oct. 13/1 British Linen Bank..is assessing the feasibility of cabling parts of central Scotland for multi-channel TV and ‘telebanking’. |
2. Arch. To furnish (a column) with vertical convex circular mouldings, which should properly occupy the lower part of the flutings, so as to represent a rope or staff placed in the flute (Gwilt).
| 1766 Entick London IV. 91 Cabled with small pillars bound round it, with a kind of arched work and subdivisions between. 1848 Rickman Archit. 13 These channels are sometimes partly filled by a lesser round moulding; this is called cabling the flutes. 1875 Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v. Cabling. In modern times an occasional abuse has been practised of cabling without fluting, as in the church della Sapienza at Rome. |
3. trans. and intr. To transmit (a message, news, etc.), or communicate, by submarine telegraph. (Const. as in
to telegraph.)
| 1871 Schele de Vere Americanisms (1872) 559 A late telegram by Atlantic Cable from the British Premier..said: ‘Cable how match-tax works’. 1880 Times 28 Oct., The exciting news cabled from Ireland. 1881 Ionia Standard 24 Mar., He [i.e. Secretary Blaine] has been cabling constantly with Lord Granville. 1882 Times 14 Apr. 5/3 The Secretary of State..cabled the substance of them to Minister Lowell. 1884 Kendal Merc. 1 Nov. 5 Mr. Henry Irving cabled me from Boston..that, etc. |
▪ III. cable obs. f. of
caball, horse.