Sable
adj, name, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 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. countable
- 2 marten of northern Asian forests having luxuriant dark brown fur wordnet
- 3 Any other marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana). countable
- 4 a scarf (or trimming) made of sable wordnet
- 5 A pelt of fur of a sable or of one of another species of martens; a coat made from this fur. countable, uncountable
"Lovers dallied upon divans spread with sables."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 an artist's brush made of sable hairs wordnet
- 7 An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable, the kolinsky sable-hair brush. countable
- 8 a very dark black wordnet
- 9 A black colour on a coat of arms. countable, uncountable
- 10 the expensive dark brown fur of the marten wordnet
- 11 A dark brown colour, resembling the fur of some sables. countable, uncountable
- 12 Black garments, especially worn in mourning. countable, in-plural, uncountable
"I ſee its Sables wove by Deſtiny."
- 13 The sablefish. countable, uncountable
- 1 Sable-coloured, black.
"When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white"
- 2 In blazon, of the colour black.
- 3 Made of sable fur.
- 4 Dark, somber.
"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."
- 5 Dark-skinned; Black. archaic, literary
"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."
- 1 of a dark somewhat brownish black wordnet
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"One only vestige of his fate appeared. A large sable feather had been detached from his hat, and the rippling waves of the rising tide wafted it to Caleb's feet."
Etymology
Attested since 1275, from Middle English sable, 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 Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Middle Persian smwl (*samōr).
Related phrases
More for "sable"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.