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▪ I. sable, n.1|ˈseɪb(ə)l|
Forms: α. 4 sabylle, 5 sabulle, 5–6 sabill, 5–7 sabel, 6 sabil(le, 7 sabell, 4– sable. β. 7 cebal.
[a. OF. sable, saible sable fur, also quasi-adj. in martre sable (‘sable marten’) as the name of the animal and its fur, med.L. sabelum, sabellum sable fur, Icel. safal, safali sable (the animal), sable-fur, Du. sabel sable-fur. The OF. word was prob. adopted from Slavonic: cf. Russian sobol′, Polish, Czech sobol (whence G. zobel, Da., Sw. sobel), Lith. sabalas, Hung. czoboly, the sable. See also zibeline, which represents a Romanic derivative from the same Slavonic word.
The rare 17th c. form cebal is of obscure origin; it may possibly be a shortening of one of the Rom. forms cited s.v. zibeline.]
1. a. A small carnivorous quadruped, Mustela zibellina, nearly allied to the martens, and native of the arctic and sub-arctic regions of Europe and Asia. Also Russian sable, Siberian sable. In ME. the animal and its fur are called also martrix sable, martryn sable, after OF. martre sable.
The American sable, Mustela Americana, native of the arctic and sub-arctic regions of North America, is now regarded as a geographical variety of the Old World species. The red sable or Tatar sable is the Siberian mink, Putorius sibiricus.
1423Jas. I Kingis Q. clvii, The bugill, draware by his hornis grete; The martrik sable, the foynȝee, and mony mo. 1463–4Rolls of Parlt. V. 504/2 That noo Knyght..nor noo Wyf of eny such Knyght..were eny manere Cloth of Gold..or eny Furre of Sables. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xxiii. 62 Furres of martirs, Zebelins, Sables,..and other fine skins. 1668Charleton Onomast. 19 Mustela Zibellina,..the Cebal, or Sable. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. xvi. 326 They..catch sables and foxes. 1877Coues Fur Anim. iii. 95 The Sable is principally trapped during the colder months.
b. Painting. A brush made of the sable's hair. Cf. kolinsky.
1891in Cent. Dict. 1899[see red sable s.v. red a. 19 a]. 1958M. L. Wolf Dict. Painting 41 Modern painters' brushes are in two general types: bristle, or coarse hair, usually that of the pig; and fine hair, made of sable, or so-called ‘camel hair’. 1973F. Taubes Painter's Dict. 207 Sables are standard painting tools for all water-based mediums—watercolor, acrylic, casein, gouache, etc.—which require large, thin passages of fluid color.
2. a. The skin or fur of the sable.
14..Lydg. Life Our Lady (MS. Bodl. 75, fol. 72 b) Ne martres sable [Caxton and other texts Ne martyrn ne sabyl]..Was noon founde in her garment. 1508Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 20 Item, put in the samyn [goun] sevin score of mertrikis of the Kingis and pairt of sabilles. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 20 The riche furres called Zibellini, which we call Sables. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 180 Raw silks, exchang'd for sables. 1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 30 Jan., This lady was in a gown..lined and faced with sables. 1835Court Mag. VI. p. vi/2 When we say furs, we should rather say fur, for sable is the only one adopted by ladies of high fashion. 1893F. F. Moore Gray Eye or So III. 211 Mrs. Mowbray's set of sables had cost..seven hundred guineas.
b. Short for sable coat.
1975R. Stout Family Affair xiv. 123, I..went to the hall with Mrs Bassett's mink or sable or sea otter and held it for her. 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends xvi. 105 She eyed the sable some more... In a few more years they would be hanging that coat on the wall..like a painting.
3. A superior quality of Russian iron, so called from being originally stamped with a sable.
1785Daily Universal Reg. 1 Jan. 4/3 About 140 tons of old Sable and Gurioff's iron saved out of the Westmoreland. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 12 That kind [of iron] called old sable. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 462 Those [files] made from the Russian iron, known by the name of old sable, called from its mark ccnd, are excellent.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as sable-skin; (made of the hairs of the sable) sable-brush, sable-pencil; (used for taking the sable) sable-trap; (made of the fur of sable) sable-coat, (hence sable-coated adj.), sable muff, sable tippet; sable-trimmed adj. Also objective, as sable-hunter.
1873E. Spon Workshop Receipts Ser. i. 2/1 Chinese white..may be applied with a fine *sable-brush.
1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. l. 228 It is common to see a great man sit in his *sable-coat in the height of summer. 1928Sable coat [see ask v. 5 d]. 1978F. Maclean Take Nine Spies 336 The seductive, *sable-coated countess..on the Orient Express.
1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. xvi. 335 They were the *sable-hunters of Siberia.
1784King Cook's 3rd Voy. vi. ii. III. 220, I had a present..of a handsome *sable muff.
1811Self Instructor 518 The latter kind are called *sable pencils.
1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. xv. 316, I was curious to see the *sable⁓skins. 1882H. Lansdell Through Siberia I. 208 A good sable skin fetches from 50s. to {pstlg}10.
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2202/4 Lost.., a *Sable Typpet.
1784J. Belknap in B. Papers (1877) II. 188 We saw..abundance of *sable-traps, and one bear-trap.
1922Joyce Ulysses 457 A *sabletrimmed brick quilted dolman.
b. sable-mouse [= Ger. zobelmaus] = lemming.
1699Sir P. Rycaut in Phil. Trans. XXI. 110 In the Year 1697, these Sable-Mice were first observ'd. 1700W. King Transactioneer 81 Sable-Mice..are so fierce and angry that if a stick be held out at them, they will bite it.
▪ II. sable, n.2 and a.|ˈseɪb(ə)l|
Also 4–5 sabyll(e, 5–6 sabill.
[a. F. sable sable (as heraldic term: in Godef. cited only from 15th c.), whence Sp., Pg. sable, MDu., Du. sabel. The identity of the word with sable n.1 is commonly assumed, though some difficulty is presented by the fact that the fur of the sable, as now known, is not black but brown.
Some have conjectured that it may have been customary to dye sable-fur black (as is now often done with sealskin), perh. in order to heighten its contrast with ermine, with which it was often worn.
The development by which the heraldic term has become a general (poetical or rhetorical) synonym for ‘black’ is peculiar to English.]
A. n.
1. Her. Black, as one of the heraldic colours; in engraving represented by horizontal and vertical lines crossing each other. Abbreviated S (also s), sa., † sab.
1352Wynnere & Wastoure 157 The thirde banere one bent as of blee whitte With sexe galeys I see of sable with inn. a1400Morte Arth. 771 His hede and hys hals ware..Oundyde of azure,..Hys feete ware floreschede alle in fyne sabylle. 1470–85Malory Arthur xii. vi. 601 A shelde alle of Sabel. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. iv. xvii. 280 That other colour is blak that men calle in armoyrie sable. 1562Leigh Armorie (1597) 87 b, These [Ogresses] are Pellets of guns, and are neuer of other colour, then Sable. 1611Cotgr., Sable,..the colour sables, or blacke, in Blason. 1864Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. xv. 175 Changing the tincture of the field of his shield from sable to azure.
2. a. The colour black; black clothing, also, esp. as a symbol of mourning. poet. and rhet.
c1374Chaucer Compl. Mars 284 Now haue ye cause to clothe yow in sable. 1390Gower Conf. III. 372 A Peire of Bedes blak as Sable Sche tok and heng my necke aboute. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 20 Thair baneris schane with the sone, of siluer and sabill. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 126 Thare was Pluto..In cloke of grene, his court usit no sable. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 242 Ham. His Beard was grisly? No. Hor. It was, as I haue seene it in his life, A Sable Siluer'd. 1728Pope Dunc. ii. 262 The King of dykes! than whom no sluice of mud With deeper sable blots the silver flood. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. viii. 38 Painted was he with his war⁓paints,..Spots of brown and spots of sable.
†b. Blackness, darkness. Obs.
1503Dunbar Thistle & Rose 56 The purpour sone,..Doing all sable fro the hevynnis chace. 1774tr. Helvetius' Child of Nature II. 336 The sable of death was spread upon his face. 1781Cowper Conversat. 872 Let no man charge me that I mean To clothe in sable every social scene.
3. pl.
a. Mourning garments; a suit of black worn as an emblem of grief. poet. or rhetorical.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 138 Nay then let the Diuel weare blacke, for Ile haue a suite of Sables. 1676Otway Don Carlos v. i, You'll find her all in rueful Sables clad. 1795Wolcot (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 164 Her gloomy sables change to pink and gold. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lvii, Her little boy sate by her side in pompous new sables. 1867‘Ouida’ C. Castlemaine (1879) 18 The sables she wore were not solely for the dead Earl.
b. fig.
1655tr. Com. Hist. Francion i. 1 Already had the Night worn out neare half her Sables. a1708Beveridge Priv. Th. i. 101 This Hatred..puts on the mournful Sables of Grief and Sorrow. 1746Hervey Medit. (1818) 162 Then the earth, disrobed of all her gay attire, must sit in sables, like a disconsolate widow. 1882Mrs. Oliphant Lit. Hist. Eng. I. 58 Thus Cowper kept on his sables, his melancholy countenance [etc.].
4. A book-name of several species of pyralid moths, esp. of the genera Botys and Ennychia.
1832Rennie Conspect. Butterfl. & M. 149 The Wavy⁓barred Sable (Ennychia anguinalis). Ibid. The Silver⁓barred Sable (E. cingulata).
5. In full sable antelope. A large stout-horned antelope, Hippotragus (ægocerus) niger, native of South and East Africa, the male of which is of a deep black colour.
1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 95/1 An old buck of the sable antelope, the rarest and most beautiful animal in South Africa. 1895J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt (1899) 294, I saw the head and horns of a grand sable, looking straight at me. 1900Grogan & Sharp Cape to Cairo v. 49, I saw two grand bull sable browsing.
6. Comb., parasynthetic and instrumental, as sable-bordered, sable-cinctured, sable-coloured, sable-gowned, sable-hooded, sable-lettered, sable-robed, sable-spotted, sable-stoled, sable-suited, sable-tinted, sable-vested, sable visaged adjs.
a1758Ramsay Death R. Alexander i, Thou *sable-border'd sheet begone!
1744Akenside Pleas. Imag. iii. 97 Learning's garb, With formal band, and *sable-cinctur'd gown.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 233 It is besieged with *sable coloured melancholie. 1596R. L[inche] Diella (1877) 75 Night puts on her mistie sable-coloured vayle.
1848J. G. Whittier in National Era 14 Dec. 198/5 The *sable-gowned divine..shall prove Their trade accordant with the Law of Love.
1770W. Hodson Ded. Temple Solomon 13 The dreary Realms Of *sable-hooded Night.
1810Scott Lady of L. iii. vi, In vain, the learning of the age Unclasp'd the *sable-letter'd page.
1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 54 Like *sable-robed Ants.
1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. (1868) 104 Walled towers..*sable-spotted with cannon-courses.
1629Milton Hymn Nativ. xxiv, The *sable-stoled Sorcerers bear his worshipt Ark.
1590Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) G 3 b, Phœbus, put out thy *sable suted wreathe.
1918G. Frankau One of Them II. xvi. 121 Hat thrown aside from tresses *sable-tinted.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 962 With him Enthron'd Sat *Sable-vested Night.
1608Merry Devil of Edmonton Prol. 24 The silent *sable visagde night.
B. adj. In 6–7 also sables.
1. Her. Of a black colour; black.
1470–85Malory Arthur v. ix. 176 The knyght bare in his sheld thre gryffons of gold in sable charbuncle. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 193 In a shield sables, they beare for their armes six Swallowes argent. 1875Fortnum Maiolica ix. 79 Paly gules and or, on a fess argent a dog in the act of bounding sable.
2. gen. Black. Chiefly poet. and rhetorical.
a. Of material objects, persons, animals, etc. At one time applied joc. to Black people. his sable majesty (also, excellency): applied to a dark-complexioned potentate; spec. the Devil.
1485–1509in Grose Antiq. Rep. (1809) IV. 408 The margent sylver and the notis sabill. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 447 According to my sable weid I mon haif sad maneris. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb. 81) He apparailed himselfe in armour, colour sables, as mourning for his Mistres. 1595R. Johnson 7 Champions (1608) 72 The walles [were] behung with sable mourning cloth. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. iii. §29 This Year the English have cause to write with Sable letters in their Almanack,..that [etc.]. a1700Dryden Theodore & Honoria 272 Last came the Fellon on the Sable Steed. 1769Sir W. Jones Palace Fortune Poems (1777) 22 His few gray locks a sable fillet bound. 1815Ann. Reg., Chron. 63 The ceremonies were performed by a sable archbishop. 1822Southey Vis. Judgm. viii. Poet. Wks. 1838 X. 232 He of the sable mail, the hero of Cressy. 1867G. H. Lewes Let. 8 Aug. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) IV. 384 Here he translated the Bible, and here he wrestled with Satan, flinging (like a true literary antagonist) his ink-stand at his sable majesty's head, and staining the whitewashed wall. 1875J. D. Lang Hist. Acct. New South Wales (ed. 4) I. xi. 393 If Her Majesty could have commissioned the Prince of Darkness to represent her in the Colony.., I doubt not but his sable Excellency would have received a Farewell Address of respect. 1881[see majesty 2]. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 56/1 When the middle passage is safely passed and the death-scared sable crowd ‘sold and delivered’. 1895Photos 8 June 10 His sable majesty..is a man of great force of character.
b. Of sky, sea, land, night, and the like.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xlvi. 2 Aurora did vpspring, With cristall ene chasing the cluddis sable. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxxxix. vi, Doe thou thy best, O secret night, In sable vaile to cover me. 1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 15 Whose storie, Shall..shew it selfe..more bright, Then chast Latona on the sablest night. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vii. xxxii, So when the South (dipping his sablest wings In humid Ocean) sweeps..Th' aire, earth, and seas. 1634Milton Comus 221 Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night? 1735Somerville Chase ii. 415 The Night Wrapt in her sable Veil forbids the Chace. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxiv, As flashes flame through sable smoke. 1853C. Brontë Villette vi, Down the sable flood we glided.
c. Of agencies personified.
1726Pope Odyss. xx. 308 Your future thought let sable Fate employ. 1749Smollett Regicide iv. ii, Ha! Did'st thou say, revenge? Hail, sable pow'r.
d. Of dark-coloured liquids. rare.
1791Cowper Iliad iv. 58 Quick flowed a sable current from the wound. Ibid. xxi. 200 The other as it flew Grazed his right elbow: sprang the sable blood. 1808Scott Marm. vi. Introd. 13 They..Caroused in seas of sable beer.
†3. Mournful. Obs.
1603Chettle Eng. Mourn. Garm. D 3, Nor doth the siluer tonged Melicert, Drop from his honied muse one sable teare. 1613R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (ed. 3), Sable,..mournefull. 1708Repl. to Swift's Bickerstaff detected S.'s Wks. 1755 II. i. 167 A long sable elegy. 1780Cowper Lett. 6 Apr., Such a sable state of mind as I labour under.
▪ III. † ˈsable, n.3 Obs.
Also 7 zable, 7–8 sabel; and see shable.
[Prob. a. Du. or early mod.Ger. sabel (later Ger. säbel): see sabre.]
= sabre n.
1617J. Taylor (Water P.) Fight at Sea Wks. (1630) iii. 34/1 Some with Sabels, which we call Fauchions..and some with Half pikes. 1652J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox iii. 50 Stanislas..came with his Sable in his Hand. 1674Phil. Trans. IX. 184 They use Musquets, Bows and Arrows, Zables, Javelins; and for their Trumpets they employ great Elefants-teeth. 1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1765/1 The Moneys..has on one side a Hand with a naked Sable in it. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sable, or Sabre.
▪ IV. sable, n.4|ˈseɪb(ə)l|
[ad. Pg. savel.]
An Indian fish; = hilsa. Usually sable-fish.
1810T. Williamson East India Vade M. II. 154 The hilsah, (or sable fish,) which seems to be mid-way between a mackarel and a salmon,..is, perhaps, the richest fish with which any cook is acquainted. 1846J. T. Thompson Hindu Dict., Iléesh..the Hilsa or Sable. 1883F. Day Indian Fish 34 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) An anadromous shad termed ‘Pulla’ in the Indus,..‘Sable-fish’ by the Madrassees,..[and] ‘Hilsa’ or ‘ilisha’ in Bengal.
▪ V. sable, v. Chiefly poet.|ˈseɪb(ə)l|
[f. sable a.]
trans. To blacken or darken. Also, to clothe in ‘sables’. Now rare.
1610G. Fletcher Christ's Tri. i. xxxvi, And sabled all in blacke the shadie skie. 1640Fuller Joseph's Coat, David's Sin xxxii. (1867) 213 Sepian juice did sink Into his spongy paper, sabling o'er The same. 1726Pope Odyss. xx. 103 Airy terrors sable ev'ry dream. 1800Moore Anacreon lix, Sabled by the solar beam, Now the fiery clusters teem. 1890Temple Bar Sept. 14 She is probably no longer sobbing and sabled.
Hence ˈsabled ppl. a., clad in black.
1804Something Odd II. 88 The sabled gentleman fancies himself struck with the sublimities of Miss Gervaise. |