CABLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cable mean? 

• CABLE (noun)
  The noun CABLE has 6 senses:

1. a telegram sent abroad

2. a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power

3. a very strong thick rope made of twisted hemp or steel wire

4. a nautical unit of depth

5. television that is transmitted over cable directly to the receiver

6. a television system that transmits over cables

  Familiarity information: CABLE used as a noun is common.

• CABLE (verb)
  The verb CABLE has 2 senses:

1. send cables, wires, or telegrams

2. fasten with a cable

  Familiarity information: CABLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CABLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A telegram sent abroad

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cable; cablegram; overseas telegram

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

telegram; wire (a message transmitted by telegraph)

Derivation:

cable (send cables, wires, or telegrams)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cable; line; transmission line

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 3

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 4

Meaning:

A nautical unit of depth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

cable; cable's length; cable length

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

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

Television that is transmitted over cable directly to the receiver

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cable; cable television

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

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

Sense 6

Meaning:

A television system that transmits over cables

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cable; cable system; cable television; cable television service

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)

• CABLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cable    ... he / she / it cables   
Past simple: cabled   
Past participle: cabled   
-ing form: cabling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Send cables, wires, or telegrams

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

cable; telegraph; wire

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

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

cable trees

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

 Context examples 

A device designed to assist in installation of fiberoptic cables.

(Fiberguide Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my closet, like that of a cable, and the grating of it as it passed through the ring.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A wire cable or strap designed to carry current safely away from an electronic device.

(Ground Strap Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

A cable designed to use fiberoptic strands to transmit signals.

(Optical Cable Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

A cable designed to drive the rotational cutter of a catheter device.

(Cutter-Torque Cable Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Their technique, which they had previously tested with fiber-optic cables on land, could provide much-needed data on quakes that occur under the sea surface, where few seismic stations exist.

(Underwater telecom cables make superb seismic network, National Science Foundation)

Refers to the process by which students and teachers at different sites carry out learning and instruction via cable connection, conventional phone lines, or computer networks.

(Distance Learning, NCI Thesaurus)

This includes susceptibility to interference via cables or air.

(Device Radiofrequency Interference Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

The Hispaniola lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads and round the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes grated underneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I therefore cabled to my friend, Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more than once made use of my knowledge of London crime.

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