Sable
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈseɪbəl/
- Rhymes: -eɪbəl
Origin
Attested since 1275, from Middle English, from Old French sable and martre sable ("sable martin"), in reference to the animal or its fur; from Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel); ultimately from an Old Slavonic or Baltic word (compare Russian Ñоболь, Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Persian samÅr.
Noun
sable
(countable and uncountable; plural sables)- A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, , from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur (Sable (animal)).
- The marten, especially .
- The fur or pelt of the sable or other species of martens; a coat made from this fur.
- 1907, Robert Chambers
- 1928, Virginia Woolf, Lovers dallied upon divans spread with sables.
- An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable (Sable (heraldry)).
- (tincture) A black colour on a coat of arms.
- A black colour, resembling the fur of some sables.
- (in the plural, sables) Black garments worn in mourning.
- unknown date YoungSables wove by destiny.
Derived terms
Related terms
Full definition of sable
Adjective
sable
- Of the black colour sable.
- unknown date YoungNight, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world. - 2002, Christopher Paolini, , chapter 3They 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.
- (tincture): In blazon, of the colour black.
- Made of sable fur.
- Dark, somber.
- 1922, w, “Piracyâ€: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days Chapter 3/2/1, 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.