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.
› A long object used to make a physical connection.
1
Material A strong, large-diameter wire or rope, or something resembling such a rope.
2
Material An assembly of two or more cable-laid ropes.
3
Material An assembly of two or more wires, used for electrical power or data circuits; one or more and/or the whole may be insulated.
4
Nautical, TransportMaterial A 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:
5
Communication, Communications A 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.
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:
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.
Details of a bottle fight in El Morocco were cabled all over the world.1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 89:
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
To communicate by cable.
6
Architecture To ornament (something) with cabling.
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: