A Cable Was Once a Message, Not a Wire
A cable is a thick rope or a bundle of wires. For a century it also meant an overseas telegram, sent along the transatlantic cable.
A cable is a thick rope or a bundle of insulated wires. After the transatlantic telegraph cable was completed in 1866, *cable* also became the word for the message itself: diplomats cabled their governments, and the word survives in the phrase *diplomatic cables* long after the wires were replaced. A cable is also a nautical unit of distance, about 185 metres, or one tenth of a nautical mile.
- A thick rope. *A steel cable.*
- Insulated wires. *A power cable.*
- Cable television. *Cable news.*
- A telegram (historical). *He sent a cable.*
- A nautical distance. *Two cables off the point.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | cable | A long cable. |
| Plural | cables | Buried cables. |
| Verb | cable | He cabled London. |
| Compound | cable car | A cable car. |
| Compound | cable knit | A cable-knit jumper. |
- The bridge hangs from steel cables.Engineering.
- He cabled the news to New York.Historical.
- The ship anchored two cables offshore.Nautical distance.
Other lives of the word
- Cable car — a car pulled along a cable, as in San Francisco
- Cable knit — a twisted rope pattern in knitting
- Cable television — delivered by wire rather than broadcast
- Cable — a nautical unit, a tenth of a nautical mile
- Diplomatic cable — an embassy message, named for the telegraph
Old North French *cable*, from Late Latin *capulum*, a halter or rope, from *capere*, to take or hold.
Why are embassy messages called cables?
Because they were once sent along undersea telegraph cables. The name outlived the technology.
How long is a cable at sea?
A tenth of a nautical mile, roughly 185 metres, though definitions have varied.