/ˈseɪbəl/, /ˈseɪbɫ/
OriginAttested since 1275, from Middle English sable, from Old French sable and martre sable (“sable marten”), in reference to the animal or its fur; from Medieval Latin sabelum, from Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel); ultimately from a Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Middle Persian smwl (*samōr).
- countableA small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur.
- countableAny other marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana).
- countable, uncountableA pelt of fur of a sable or of one of another species of martens; a coat made from this fur.
“Lovers dallied upon divans spread with sables.”
- countableAn artist's brush made from the fur of the sable, the kolinsky sable-hair brush.
- countable, uncountableA black colour on a coat of arms.
- countable, uncountableA dark brown colour, resembling the fur of some sables.
- countable, in-plural, uncountableBlack garments, especially worn in mourning.
“I ſee its Sables wove by Deſtiny.”
“[…]a delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise. ¶ "Phil! You! Exactly like you, Philip,”
- countable, uncountableThe sablefish.
- Sable-coloured, black.
“When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white”
“Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, / In rayless majesty, now stretches forth / Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world.”
“They wound between the wagons to a tent removed from the rest of the traders'. It was crimson at the top and sable at the bottom, with thin triangles of colors stabbing into each other.”
- In blazon, of the colour black.
- Made of sable fur.
- Dark, somber.
“She turned and waved a hand to him, she cried a word, but he didn't hear it, it was a lost word. A sable wraith she was in the parkland, fading away into the dolorous crypt of winter.”
- archaic, literaryDark-skinned; Black.
“Some of the sable females, who formerly stood aloof, now began to relax and appear less coy; but my heart was still fixed on London, where I hoped to be ere long.”
“Ethnologists are in the wrong / About our sable brothers[.]”
“Of this one of the drovers writes thus: - "Very soon there will be homesteads and stations dotted all over the Territory within easy distances of one another, driving our sable brethren from their anc”
Formssables(plural) · sa.(alternative) · s.(alternative) · sabler(comparative) · sablest(superlative)