Sable
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sable \Sa"ble\, a.
Of the color of the sable's fur; dark; black; -- used chiefly
in poetry.
[1913 Webster]
Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world. --Young.
[1913 Webster]
{Sable antelope} (Zool.), 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.
{Sable iron}, a superior quality of Russia iron; -- so called
because originally stamped with the figure of a sable.
{Sable mouse} (Zool.), the lemming.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sable \Sa"ble\, n. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4),
LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel,
sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. s['o]bole.]
1. (Zool.) 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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The sable resembles the marten, but has a longer head
and ears. Its fur consists of a soft under wool, with a
dense coat of hair, overtopped by another still longer.
It varies greatly in color and quality according to the
locality and the season of the year. The darkest and
most valuable furs are taken in autumn and winter in
the colder parts of Siberia, Russia, and British North
America.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The American sable, or marten, was formerly considered
a distinct species ({Mustela Americana}), but it
differs very little from the Asiatic sable, and is now
considered only a geographical variety.
[1913 Webster]
2. The fur of the sable.
[1913 Webster]
3. A mourning garment; a funeral robe; -- generally in the
plural. "Sables wove by destiny." --Young.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Her.) The tincture black; -- represented by vertical and
horizontal lines crossing each other.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
marten \mar"ten\, n. [From older martern, marter, martre, F.
martre, marte, LL. martures (pl.), fr. L. martes; akin to AS.
mear[eth], meard, G. marder, OHG. mardar, Icel. m["o]r[eth]r.
Cf. {Foumart}.]
1. (Zool.) Any one of several fur-bearing carnivores of the
genus {Martes} (formerly {Mustela}), closely allied to the
sable. Among the more important species are the European
{beech marten} or {stone marten} ({Martes foina}); the
{pine marten} ({Martes martes}); and the {American
marten}, or {sable} ({Martes Americana}), which some
Zoologists consider only a variety of the Russian sable.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
2. The fur of the marten, used for hats, muffs, etc.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
146 Moby Thesaurus words for "sable":
achievement, alerion, animal charge, annulet, argent,
armorial bearings, armory, arms, atramentous, azure, bandeau, bar,
bar sinister, baton, bearings, bend, bend sinister, billet, black,
black as coal, black as ebony, black as ink, black as midnight,
black as night, black race, blackness, blazon, blazonry, bordure,
broad arrow, cadency mark, canton, chaplet, charge, chevron, chief,
coal-black, coaly, coat of arms, cockatrice, coronet, crescent,
crest, cross, cross moline, crown, dark, dark as night,
dark as pitch, darkness, deep black, device, difference,
differencing, dusky, eagle, ebon, ebony, ermine, ermines,
erminites, erminois, escutcheon, falcon, fess, fess point, field,
file, flanch, fleur-de-lis, fret, fur, fusil, garland, gloomy,
griffin, gules, gyron, hatchment, helmet, heraldic device,
honor point, impalement, impaling, inescutcheon, ink-black,
inkiness, inky, jet, jetty, label, lion, lozenge, mantling,
marshaling, martlet, mascle, melanism, metal, midnight, motto,
mullet, murky, night-black, night-dark, nigrescence, nigritude,
nigrous, nombril point, octofoil, or, ordinary, orle, pale, paly,
pean, pheon, pitch-black, pitch-dark, pitchy, purpure, quarter,
quartering, raven, raven-black, rose, saltire, scutcheon, shield,
sloe, sloe-black, sloe-colored, somber, spread eagle, subordinary,
tar-black, tarry, tenne, tincture, torse, tressure, unicorn, vair,
vert, wreath, yale
[email protected]