sable

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See also: sablé, Sable, and Sablé

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

  • sa., s. (in heraldic contexts)

Etymology[edit]

Attested since 1275, from Middle English, 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 Balto-Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Doublet of sobol. Compare also Middle Persian smwl (*samōr).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈseɪbəl/, /ˈseɪbɫ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪbəl
  • Hyphenation: sa‧ble

Noun[edit]

A sable (Martes zibellina)

sable (countable and uncountable, plural sables)

  1. (countable) A 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 (Wikipedia).
  2. (countable) The marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana).
  3. (countable and uncountable) The fur or pelt of the sable or other species of martens; a coat made from this fur.
  4. (countable) An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable (Wikipedia).
  5. (heraldry) A black colour on a coat of arms (Wikipedia).
    sable (heraldry):  
  6. (countable and uncountable) A dark brown colour, resembling the fur of some sables.
    sable:  
  7. (in the plural, sables) Black garments, especially worn in mourning.
  8. The sablefish.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

sablefish — see sablefish

Adjective[edit]

sable (comparative sabler, superlative sablest)

  1. Of the black colour sable.
  2. (heraldry): In blazon, of the colour black.
  3. Made of sable fur.
  4. Dark, somber.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/2/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎[1]:
      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.
  5. (obsolete, literary) Dark-skinned; black.
    • 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 7, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:
      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.
    • 1880 June 19, Henry Kendall, “My Piccaninny”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, page 28, column 4:
      Ethnologists are in the wrong / About our sable brothers[.]
    • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 281:
      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 ancient hunting grounds."
    • 1905, Banjo Paterson, Old Bush Songs, page 40:
      For twelve long months I had to pace, / Humping my swag with a cadging face, / Sleeping in the bush, like the sable race.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • Random House Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1987.

Anagrams[edit]

Asturian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈsable/, [ˈsa.β̞le]
  • Rhymes: -able
  • Hyphenation: sa‧ble

Etymology 1[edit]

From French sable and this from Late Latin sablum, from Latin sabulum, alternative form of sabulō. Compare sablera. Compare Italian sabbia, Occitan sabla.

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. sand

Etymology 2[edit]

From Spanish sable and this from French sabre, from German Säbel, from Hungarian szablya, cognate with Danish sabel, Russian са́бля (sáblja), Polish szabla, Serbo-Croatian сабља.

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. saber
  2. edge of a scythe

Basque[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

sable

  1. sabre, saber

Catalan[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. (heraldry) sable

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Inherited from Old French, from Vulgar Latin sablum, from Latin sabulum, alternative form of sabulō. Compare sablon, which was used more often in Old French. Compare Italian sabbia, Occitan sabla.

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. sand
    un grain de sable ― a grain of sand
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old French martre sable (“sable marten”), an animal. From Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel); ultimately from a Balto-Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Persian سمور‎ (samur).

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. (heraldry) the heraldic colour sable; black

Etymology 3[edit]

From sabler.

Verb[edit]

sable

  1. inflection of sabler:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Galician[edit]

sables

Etymology[edit]

13th century. From older savel, from *sabŏlos, from Proto-Celtic *samos (“summer”). Cognate with Portuguese sável and Spanish sábalo.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

sable f (plural sables)

  1. allis shad (Alosa alosa)
    Synonyms: sabenla, tasca, zamborca
    • 1274, “Documentos antiguos de Galicia”, in M. Sponer, editor, Anuari de l'Oficina Románica de Lingüística i Literatura, Barcelona, 7, page 76:
      Outroſi nos dardes cadá ãno por kalendas mayaſ una duzea de bonoſ [s]auééſ τ outra duzea de lanpreas
      Also, you shall give to us yearly, by the calends of May, a dozen good shads and another dozen lampreys
    • 1319, Ermelindo Portela Silva, editor, La región del obispado de Tuy en los siglos XII a XV. Una sociedad en expansión y en la crisis, Santiago: Tip. El Eco Franciscano, page 393:
      vos que ayades esa renda da dizima dos savees e do pescado que y sayr en vossa vida e despos vosa morte que fique a nos o dito arynno
      you should have this rent of a tenth of the shads and of the fish that is captured there, in your life, and after your death this sand island should return to us

References[edit]

  1. ^ Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “sábalo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Old French[edit]

Noun[edit]

sable oblique singular, m (oblique plural sables, nominative singular sables, nominative plural sable)

  1. sable (fur of a sable)

Portuguese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

 

Adjective[edit]

sable m or f (plural sables)

  1. (heraldry) sable (of black colour on a coat of arms)
    Synonym: saibro

Noun[edit]

sable m (uncountable)

  1. (heraldry) sable (the black colour on coats of arms)
    Synonym: saibro

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈsable/ [ˈsa.β̞le]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -able
  • Syllabification: sa‧ble

Etymology 1[edit]

From French sable, ultimately from a Balto-Slavic word.

Adjective[edit]

sable m or f (masculine and feminine plural sables)

  1. (heraldry) sable

Etymology 2[edit]

From French sabre, from Hungarian szablya.

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. saber, cutlass
  2. (fencing) saber
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From Latin sabŭlum. Cognate with French sable.

Noun[edit]

sable m (plural sables)

  1. (dated) sand
    Synonym: arena

Further reading[edit]

Tagalog[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Spanish sable.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: sab‧le
  • IPA(key): /ˈsable/, [ˈsab.lɛ]

Noun[edit]

sable

  1. saber

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

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