I. ˈkā-bəl noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin capulum lasso, from Latin capere to take — more at heave
Date: 13th century
1.
a. : a strong rope especially of 10 inches (25 centimeters) or more in circumference
b. : a cable-laid rope
c. : a wire rope or metal chain of great tensile strength
d. : a wire or wire rope by which force is exerted to control or operate a mechanism
2. : cable length
3.
a. : an assembly of electrical conductors insulated from each other but laid up together (as by being twisted around a central core)
b. : cablegram ; also : a radio message or telegram
4. : something resembling or fashioned like a cable
a fiber-optic cable
5. : cable television
a house with cable
II. verb
( ca·bled ; ca·bling ˈkā-b(ə-)liŋ)
Date: circa 1500
transitive verb
1. : to fasten with or as if with a cable
2. : to provide with a cable or cables
3. : to telegraph by submarine cable
4. : to make into a cable or into a form resembling a cable
intransitive verb
: to communicate by a submarine cable
• ca·bler -b(ə-)lər noun