Sa"ble, n. Etym: [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
1. (Zoöl.)
Definition: 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.
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.
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.
2. The fur of the sable.
3. A mouring garment; a funeral robe; -- generally in the plural. "Sables wove by destiny." Young.
4. (Her.)
Definition: The tincture black; -- represented by vertical and horizontal lines each other.
Sa"ble, a.
Definition: Of the color of the sable's fur; dark; black; -- used chiefly in poetry. Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty, now stretches forth Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world. Young. Sable antelope (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.
– Sable iron, a superior quality of Russia iron; -- so called because originally stamped with the figure of a sable.
РSable mouse (Zo̦l.), the lemming.
Sa"ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sabled; p. pr. & vb. n. Sabling.]
Definition: To render sable or dark; to drape darkly or in black. Sabled all in black the shady sky. G. Fletcher.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
2 May 2025
(noun) excavation consisting of a vertical or sloping passageway for finding or mining ore or for ventilating a mine
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
