cable

English

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cable

Wikipedia

Etymology

Recorded since c.1205 as Middle English cable, from Old Northern French cable, from Late Latin capulum (“lasso, rope, halter”), from Latin capiō (“to take, seize”). Use of the term "cable" to refer to the USD/GBP exchange rate originated in the mid-19th century, when the exchange rate began to be transmitted across the Atlantic by a submarine communications cable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪ.bəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪbəl

Noun

cable (plural cables)

1. (material) A long object used to make a physical connection.
   1. A strong, large-diameter wire or rope, or something resembling such a rope.

      Synonyms: wire rope, cord; see also Thesaurus:string

   2. An assembly of two or more cable-laid ropes.
   3. An assembly of two or more wires, used for electrical power or data circuits; one or more and/or the whole may be insulated.
   4. (nautical) A strong rope or chain used to moor or anchor a ship.

      Coordinate term: hawser

      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

        “And now the time of tide has come; the ship casts off her cables; and from the deserted wharf the uncheered ship for Tarshish, all careening, glides to sea.

2. (communication) A system for transmitting television or Internet services over a network of coaxial or fibreoptic cables.

   I tried to watch the movie last night but my cable was out.

   • 2014 March 15, “Turn it off”, in The Economist‎, volume 410, number 8878:

     If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […] . Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.

   1. (television) Ellipsis of cable television, broadcast over the above network, not by antenna.
4. A telegram, notably when sent by (submarine) telegraph cable.

   Synonym: cablegram

5. (nautical) A unit of length equal to one tenth of a nautical mile.

   Synonym: cable length

6. (unit, chiefly nautical) 100 fathoms, 600 imperial feet, approximately 185 m.
7. (finance) The currency pair British Pound against United States Dollar.
8. (architecture) A moulding, shaft of a column, or any other member of convex, rounded section, made to resemble the spiral twist of a rope.
9. (knitting) A textural pattern achieved by passing groups of stitches over one another.

Derived terms

Related terms

• cablet

Translations

Verb

cable (third-person singular simple present cables, present participle cabling, simple past and past participle cabled)

1. (transitive) To provide with cable(s)
2. (transitive) To fasten (as if) with cable(s)
3. (transitive) To wrap wires to form a cable
4. (transitive) To send a telegram, news, etc., by cable
   • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 89:

     Details of a bottle fight in El Morocco were cabled all over the world.

5. (intransitive) To communicate by cable
6. (architecture, transitive) To ornament with cabling.
7. (knitting) To create cable stitches.
   • 2008, Leisure Arts, I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Cables, page 9:

     You've been cabling, twisting, popcorning and bobbling. See, we told you that they weren't so hard.

Translations

Anagrams

• Caleb

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French câble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)
• Rhymes: -ablə, -able

Noun

cable m (plural cables)

1. cable

Derived terms

• cablar
• cablejar

Further reading

• “cable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Galician

Alternative forms

• calabre, cabre

Etymology

Attested in 1432 as caabre. From Old French chaable (“cable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkable/
• Rhymes: -able
• Hyphenation: ca‧ble

Noun

cable m (plural cables)

1. (material) cable
   • 1432, A. Rodríguez González (ed.), Livro do Concello de Pontevedra (1431-1463). Pontevedra: Museo de Pontevedra, page 69:

     Outrosy, que nenghum seja ousado de amarrar nauio algund a a Ponte desta dita billa nen meter estaqas en ela e o que o contrario fezer peyte de pena por la primeira vez XX marauedises e por la segunda XXX maravedisse e por la tercera que pague perca o caabre ou cordaçon que asy amarrar o dito nauio e fasta dez dias enna cadea

     Also, that nobody dares to moor any ship to the bridge of this town, nor to put stakes in it. Whoever does another thing shall pay as a penalty 20 maravedis for the first time, 30 for the second time, and for the third time he will lose the cable or rope used for mooring the ship, and shall stay up to ten days in prison

   Synonym: cabo

References

• “caabre” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “cable” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “cabre” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “cable” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “cable” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• kable, cabul, cabull, kabel, cabil, cabel, cabulle, cabill

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Northern French cable, from Late Latin capulum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaːbəl/

Noun

cable (plural cables)

1. A cable or strong rope (as used in nautical applications)
2. Any kind of rope or cable; a supporting wire.

Descendants

• English: cable
• Scots: cable

References

• “cāble, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

Old French

Noun

cable oblique singular, m (oblique plural cables, nominative singular cables, nominative plural cable)

1. Alternative form of chable

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French câble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkable/

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: ca‧ble

Noun

cable m (plural cables)

1. cable, cord
2. wire
3. (colloquial) hand, help

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Tagalog: kable

Further reading

• “cable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014