cable

plural cables

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

      Synonyms: wire rope, cord, string

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

      “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.

      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

2. communicationA 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.

   1 more example

   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.

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

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

   Synonyms: cablegram

4. nauticalA unit of length equal to one tenth of a nautical mile.

   Synonyms: cable length

5. unitnautical100 fathoms, 600 imperial feet, approximately 185 m.
6. businessThe currency pair British Pound against United States Dollar.
7. architectureA moulding, shaft of a column, or any other member of convex, rounded section, made to resemble the spiral twist of a rope.
8. businessA textural pattern achieved by passing groups of stitches over one another.

present singular third person cables · participle present cabling · participle past cabled · past cabled

1. transitiveTo provide (something) with cable(s).
2. transitiveTo fasten (something) (as if) with cable(s).
3. transitiveTo wrap (wires) to form a cable.
4. transitiveTo send (a telegram, news, etc.) by cable.

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

   1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 89

   1 more example

   On 8th November Anthony cabled them, ‘Your great-grandson Randal Lewis Casson arrived to-day. Both well,’ and we sent, ‘Congratulations on becoming great-grandparents.’

   1972, John Casson, “‘When We Are Old, Are Old’”, in Lewis & Sybil: A Memoir, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 320

5. intransitiveTo communicate by cable.
6. transitivearchitectureTo ornament (something) with cabling.
7. intransitivebusinessTo create cable stitches.

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

   2008, Leisure Arts, I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Cables, page 9

plural Cables

1. countableuncountableA surname from Anglo-Norman.
2. A place in the United States:
   1. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Richland Grove Township, Mercer County, Illinois.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Haven Township, Sherburne County, Minnesota.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Wayne Township, Champaign County, Ohio.
   4. countableuncountableA town and census-designated place therein, in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.