Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mustelid mammal (Martes zibellina) of northern Eurasia, having soft dark commercially valuable fur.
  • noun The pelt or fur of this animal.
  • noun The similar fur of other species of martens.
  • noun The color black, especially in heraldry.
  • noun Black garments worn in mourning.
  • noun A grayish yellowish brown.
  • noun A sablefish.
  • adjective Of a grayish yellowish brown.
  • adjective Of the color black, as in heraldry or mourning.
  • adjective Dark; somber.
  • adjective Of the fur of the sable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A digitigrade carnivorous quadruped, Mustela zibellina, of the family Mustelidæ and subfamily Mustelinæ, closely related to the martens.
  • noun The dressed pelt or fur of the sable.
  • noun The color black in a general sense, and especially as the color of mourning: so called with reference to the general dark color of the fur of the sable as compared with other furs, or from its being dyed black as sealskin is dyed.
  • noun A black cloth or covering of any kind; mourning-garments in general; a suit of black: often in the plural.
  • noun A fine paint-brush or pencil made of hair from the tail of the sable.
  • noun In heraldry, black; one of the tinctures, represented when the colors are not given, as in engraving, by a close network of vertical and horizontal lines. Abbreviated S., sa. See also cut under pall.
  • noun A British collectors' name of certain pyralid moths. Botys nigrata is the wavy-barred sable, and B, lingulata is the silver-barred sable.
  • Made of sable: as, a sable muff or tippet.
  • Of the color of a sable; dark-brown; blackish.
  • Black, especially as applied to mourning, or as an attribute.
  • To make like sable in color; darken; blacken; hence, figuratively, to make sad or dismal; sadden.
  • noun A Spanish name of the cutlas-fish.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of the color of the sable's fur; dark; black; -- used chiefly in poetry.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) a large South African antelope (Hippotragus niger). Both sexes have long, sharp horns. The adult male is black; the female is dark chestnut above, white beneath.
  • adjective a superior quality of Russia iron; -- so called because originally stamped with the figure of a sable.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) the lemming.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur.
  • noun The fur of the sable.
  • noun A mourning garment; a funeral robe; -- generally in the plural.
  • noun (Her.) The tincture black; -- represented by vertical and horizontal lines crossing each other.
  • transitive verb To render sable or dark; to drape darkly or in black.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Mustela zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur (Wikipedia).
  • noun The marten, especially Mustela americana.
  • noun The fur or pelt of the sable or other species of martens; a coat made from this fur.
  • noun An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable (Wikipedia).
  • noun heraldry : A black colour on a coat of arms.
  • noun A black colour, resembling the fur of some sables.
  • noun in the plural Black garments worn in mourning.
  • adjective Of the black colour sable.
  • adjective heraldry : In blazon, of the colour black.
  • adjective Made of sable fur.
  • adjective Dark, somber.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the expensive dark brown fur of the marten
  • noun marten of northern Asian forests having luxuriant dark brown fur
  • noun a very dark black
  • noun an artist's brush made of sable hairs
  • noun a scarf (or trimming) made of sable

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Middle Low German sabel, from Old Russian sobol', ultimately from Persian samōr.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

C.1275, 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 соболь (sóbol'), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Persian samōr.

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Examples

  • At the school for retarded children, we see one: she has bedecked herself with assorted dolls as elegantly as a young society matron in sable furs.

    Jan Herman: Because You Never Heard of Him... Jan Herman 2010

  • At the school for retarded children, we see one: she has bedecked herself with assorted dolls as elegantly as a young society matron in sable furs.

    Jan Herman: Because You Never Heard of Him... Jan Herman 2010

  • At the school for retarded children, we see one: she has bedecked herself with assorted dolls as elegantly as a young society matron in sable furs.

    Jan Herman: Because You Never Heard of Him... Jan Herman 2010

  • At the school for retarded children, we see one: she has bedecked herself with assorted dolls as elegantly as a young society matron in sable furs.

    Jan Herman: Because You Never Heard of Him... Jan Herman 2010

  • At the school for retarded children, we see one: she has bedecked herself with assorted dolls as elegantly as a young society matron in sable furs.

    Jan Herman: Because You Never Heard of Him... Jan Herman 2010

  • On the sixth day there will come forth to thee a black Shaykh, clad all in sable, with a long white beard, flowing down to his navel.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • He was thinking of a certain Russian sable coat that lay in his trunk at the cabin, and guarded from prying eyes by only a flimsy trunk lock.

    The Challenge of the North 1921

  • HE shadow of the termination now descended in sable thunder-clouds upon our devoted nobs.

    The Wouldbegoods Edith 1901

  • The Tzar went to the entrance, and found the whole city hill so "rolled in sable smoke", that he could distinguish nothing, and, going back to his place, desired that the service should continue.

    A Book of Golden Deeds 1864

  • First Impression: A sable is a luxurious fur, which may explain why people think Sable has posh, fashionable flair.

    5-Star Baby Name Advisor Bruce Lansky 2008

Comments

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  • A small carnivorous quadruped, Mustela zibellina, nearly allied to the martens, and native of the arctic and sub-arctic regions of Europe and Asia.

    In heraldry, black, as one of the heraldic colours; in engraving, represented by horizontal and vertical lines crossing each other.

    February 5, 2007

  • Also the name of a Mercury car.

    May 23, 2007