Definition of "cable"

(material) A long object used to make a physical connection.

1. A strong, large-diameter wire or rope, or something resembling such a rope.  examples

2. An assembly of two or more cable-laid ropes.  examples

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.  examples

4. (nautical) A strong rope or chain used to moor or anchor a ship.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • “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

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

1. (television) Ellipsis of cable television, broadcast over the above network, not by antenna.  examples

A telegram, notably when sent by (submarine) telegraph cable.  examples

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

(unit, chiefly nautical) 100 fathoms, 600 imperial feet, approximately 185 m.  examples

(finance) The currency pair British Pound against United States Dollar.  examples

(architecture) A moulding, shaft of a column, or any other member of convex, rounded section, made to resemble the spiral twist of a rope.  examples

(knitting) A textural pattern achieved by passing groups of stitches over one another.  examples

(transitive) To provide with cable(s)  examples

(transitive) To fasten (as if) with cable(s)  examples

(transitive) To wrap wires to form a cable  examples

(transitive) To send a telegram, news, etc., by cable  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To communicate by cable  examples

(architecture, transitive) To ornament with cabling.  examples

(knitting) To create cable stitches.  examples