Library / English Dictionary

CABLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A very strong thick rope made of twisted hemp or steel wire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cable" is a kind of...):

rope (a strong line)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cable"):

ground cable (a mooring cable; runs from a buoy to a mooring anchor)

Holonyms ("cable" is a part of...):

suspension bridge (a bridge that has a roadway supported by cables that are anchored at both ends)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A television system that transmits over cables

Synonyms:

cable; cable system; cable television; cable television service

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cable" is a kind of...):

television; television system (a telecommunication system that transmits images of objects (stationary or moving) between distant points)

Meronyms (parts of "cable"):

cable; line; transmission line (a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power

Synonyms:

cable; line; transmission line

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cable" is a kind of...):

conductor (a device designed to transmit electricity, heat, etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cable"):

coax; coax cable; coaxial cable (a transmission line for high-frequency signals)

electrical cable (a cable that provides an electrical connection for telephone or television or power stations)

fiber optic cable; fibre optic cable (a cable made of optical fibers that can transmit large amounts of information at the speed of light)

power cable; power line (cable used to distribute electricity)

printer cable (a cable between a computer and a printer)

Holonyms ("cable" is a part of...):

cable; cable system; cable television; cable television service (a television system that transmits over cables)

phone system; telephone system (a communication system that transmits sound between distant points)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A telegram sent abroad

Synonyms:

cable; cablegram; overseas telegram

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cable" is a kind of...):

telegram; wire (a message transmitted by telegraph)

Derivation:

cable (send cables, wires, or telegrams)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Television that is transmitted over cable directly to the receiver

Synonyms:

cable; cable television

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cable" is a kind of...):

telecasting; television; TV; video (broadcasting visual images of stationary or moving objects)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A nautical unit of depth

Synonyms:

cable; cable's length; cable length

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("cable" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Send cables, wires, or telegrams

Synonyms:

cable; telegraph; wire

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "cable" is one way to...):

telecommunicate (communicate over long distances, as via the telephone or e-mail)

Domain category:

telegraphy (communicating at a distance by electric transmission over wire)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence examples:

They cable them the information

They cable the information to them

Derivation:

cable (a telegram sent abroad)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fasten with a cable

Example:

cable trees

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cable" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

The three ship's anchors were at Sir Nigel's command carried into the waist, and tied to the mast, with twenty feet of cable between, each under the care of four seamen.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A flexible cable designed to connect electronic devices.

(Cord Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Same as I said in my cable.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A London firm made arrangements by cable for an English edition, and hot-footed upon this came the news of French, German, and Scandinavian translations in progress.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Researchers envision the creation of new graphene optical switches, which could also harness new optical frequencies to transmit data along optical cables, increasing the amount of data that can be transmitted.

(Graphene paves the way to faster high-speed communications, University of Cambridge)

Actually a complex mixture of isomers, other chlorinated hydrocarbons, and by-products, chlordane is used in termite and ant control, and as a protective treatment for underground cables.

(Chlordane, NCI Thesaurus)

From modulator/ demodulator; a device that converts digital data into analog data that can be transmitted via telephone or cable lines used for communications.

(Modem Device Component, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

We braced the old hulks with our spare cables, and God knows there was never a Levanter that I did not expect it to send us to the bottom.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By the time that their sailing-ship reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I don't, indeed, my dear boy,” he returned; “but I mean to say that they are managed and decided by the same set of people, down in that same Doctors' Commons. You shall go there one day, and find them blundering through half the nautical terms in Young's Dictionary, apropos of the “Nancy” having run down the “Sarah Jane”, or Mr. Peggotty and the Yarmouth boatmen having put off in a gale of wind with an anchor and cable to the “Nelson”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)