cable
/ˈkeɪ.bəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.54 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A system for transmitting television or Internet services over a network of coaxial or fibreoptic cables.
noun
A system for transmitting television or Internet services over a network of coaxial or fibreoptic cables.
noun
A unit of length equal to one tenth of a nautical mile.
Example Sentences
- "“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."
- "I tried to watch the movie last night but my cable was out."
- "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."
- "Details of a bottle fight in El Morocco were cabled all over the world."
- "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.’"
- "You've been cabling, twisting, popcorning and bobbling. See, we told you that they weren't so hard."
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.