sable
English
Alternative forms
- sa., s. (in heraldic contexts)
Etymology
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
- IPA(key): /ˈseɪbəl/, /ˈseɪbɫ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪbəl
- Hyphenation: sa‧ble
Noun
![](Images/wiktionary/Sable_-_2.png.webp)
sable (countable and uncountable, plural sables)
- (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).
- (countable) The marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana).
- (countable and uncountable) The fur or pelt of the sable or other species of martens; a coat made from this fur.
- 1928, Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, OCLC 154641284; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:
- Lovers dallied upon divans spread with sables.
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- (countable) An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable (Wikipedia).
- (heraldry) A black colour on a coat of arms (Wikipedia).
- sable (heraldry):
- (countable and uncountable) A dark brown colour, resembling the fur of some sables.
- sable:
- (in the plural, sables) Black garments, especially worn in mourning.
- 1742, [Edward Young], “Night the Ninth and Last. The Consolation. Containing, among Other Things, I. A Moral Survey of the Nocturnal Heavens. II. A Night-Address to the Deity. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] [Samuel Richardson] for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, OCLC 753424981, page 295:
- I ſee its Sables wove by Deſtiny.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- […] 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, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands.
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Derived terms
- sable antelope
- sablefish
- sable iron
- sable mouse
Related terms
- zibeline
Translations
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Adjective
sable (comparative sabler, superlative sablest)
- Of the black colour sable.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634:
- When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white
- 1741, [Edward Young], “Night the”, in The Complaint, London: […] , OCLC 795135997:
- Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, / In rayless majesty, now stretches forth / Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world.
- 2002, Christopher Paolini, Eragon, chapter 3
- 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.
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- (heraldry): In blazon, of the colour black.
- Made of sable fur.
- Dark, somber.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/2/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- 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.
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- (obsolete, literary) Dark-skinned; black.
- 1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, vol. I, ch. 7:
- 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.
- 1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, vol. I, ch. 7:
Synonyms
- (dark-skinned): black, dusky, inky, sooty, swarthy
Translations
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See also
- Appendix:Colors
References
- Random House Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1987.
Anagrams
- Ables, Basel, Basle, Blase, Bleas, Sabel, ables, albes, baels, bales, beals, blase, blasé, labes, saleb
Asturian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsable/, [ˈsa.β̞le]
Etymology 1
From French sable and this from Late Latin sablum, from Latin sabulum, alternative form of sabulō. Compare sablera. Compare Italian sabbia, Occitan sabla.
Noun
sable m (plural sables)
- sand
Etymology 2
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
- sabre
- sálabre
Noun
sable m (plural sables)
- saber
- edge of a scythe
Basque
Alternative forms
- sabre
Noun
sable
- sabre, saber
Catalan
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /ˈsa.blə/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈsa.ble/
Noun
sable m (plural sables)
- (heraldry) sable
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sabl/, /sɑbl/
audio (France) (file) - (Quebec) IPA(key): [sɑɔ̯bl]
audio (Quebec) (file) - (Louisiana) IPA(key): [sab]
Etymology 1
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
sable m (plural sables)
- sand
- un grain de sable ― a grain of sand
Derived terms
- bac à sable
- banc de sable
- château de sable
- être le grain dans la mécanique
- marchand de sable
- sablage
- sable mouvant
- sabler
- sableur
- sableuse
- sableux
- sablier
- sablière
- sablon
- tempête de sable
Etymology 2
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
sable m (plural sables)
- (heraldry) the heraldic colour sable; black
Etymology 3
From sabler.
Verb
sable
- inflection of sabler:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “sable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- bêlas, blasé
Galician
![](Images/wiktionary/Maifisch.JPG.webp)
Etymology
13th century. From older savel, from *sabŏlos, from Proto-Celtic *samos (“summer”). Cognate with Portuguese sável and Spanish sábalo.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsaβle̝̝/
Noun
sable f (plural sables)
- allis shad (Alosa alosa)
- 1274, M. Sponer (ed.), "Documentos antiguos de Galicia", 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
- Outroſi nos dardes cadá ãno por kalendas mayaſ una duzea de bonoſ [s]auééſ τ outra duzea de lanpreas
- 1319, Ermelindo Portela Silva (ed.), 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
- 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
- Synonyms: sabenla, tasca, zamborca
- 1274, M. Sponer (ed.), "Documentos antiguos de Galicia", Anuari de l'Oficina Románica de Lingüística i Literatura (Barcelona), 7, page 76:
References
- “savees” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “sable” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “sable” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “sábel” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
- “sabenla” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
- Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “sábalo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos
Old French
Noun
sable m (oblique plural sables, nominative singular sables, nominative plural sable)
- sable (fur of a sable)
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈsa.bli/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈsa.ble/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈsa.blɨ/ [ˈsa.βlɨ], /ˈsabl/ [ˈsaβɫ]
Adjective
sable m or f (plural sables)
- (heraldry) sable (of black colour on a coat of arms)
- Synonym: saibro
Noun
sable m (uncountable)
- (heraldry) sable (the black colour on coats of arms)
- Synonym: saibro
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsable/ [ˈsa.β̞le]
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -able
- Syllabification: sa‧ble
Etymology 1
From French sable, ultimately from a Balto-Slavic word.
Adjective
sable (plural sables)
- (heraldry) sable
Etymology 2
From French sabre, from Hungarian szablya.
Noun
sable m (plural sables)
- saber, cutlass
- (fencing) saber
Derived terms
- diente de sable
- ruido de sables
- sablazo
- sable de luz
- sierra de sable
- tragasables
Etymology 3
From Latin sabŭlum. Cognate with French sable.
Noun
sable m (plural sables)
- (dated) sand
- Synonym: arena
Further reading
- “sable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Tagalog
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish sable.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: sab‧le
- IPA(key): /ˈsable/, [ˈsab.le]
Noun
sable
- saber
Derived terms
- sablehin
See also
- espada
- alpanghe