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sable

sable

2 7.9
A very dark black color often used in art and flags
  • noun
  • /ˈseɪbəl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : sable
  • For blazon, his wool sweater sable displays chevrons indented in azure.
  • sable arms
  • argent and sable

Grey drywall accepts a coat of moonless midnight sable.

Examples

  • Sea wind separated the three colors of her hair: again, she was silver and gold and sable.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The coat was made of fine, sable fabric that shimmered under the light.

  • Argent on a chevron sable.

  • "Inspired by the Orient and bordered in sable.

  • A golden dome split into eight jeweled wedges on a sable ring.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The former count had stenciled the arms of the tennis guild: sable, a tennis racquet proper; in a cross, four tennis balls of the same.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • From Irtha, one gets black sable, black foxes, lead, and mercury (Ibn Hawqal 397).

    Academic text (2005)
  • In heraldry, a sable shield symbolizes constancy and grief.

  • The artist used sable paint to capture the depth of the night sky.

Synonyms

black
vssable
159 1.0

A state with no light, as in the night

describes a particular named shade used in heraldry and literature
pitch black
vssable
12 3.2

Completely dark with no light at all

denotes a coloured shade rather than literal absence of light
ebony
vssable
4 3.9

A very dark black color like deep night

is the heraldic and literary shade rather than the common colour term
jet black
vssable
1 2.8

A very dark colour like shiny coal

is more poetic and heraldic naming a specific very dark shade
coal black
vssable
1 2.8

Very dark like the color of coal

is used in literature and heraldry to name a traditional shade
soot black
vssable
4.9

A very dark color like the black dust from a fire

is a named formal shade often found in heraldic and literary use

Compounds

sable brush
  • Specialized
1 7.0

A painting tool with soft sable hairs that makes fine, flexible points

1 8.9

A very expensive coat made from soft dark fur of a small wild animal

An island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia, Canada, known for many seabirds and its sea history

A point of land at the southern tip of Nova Scotia

American sable
  • Specialized
7.6

A breed of domestic rabbit with soft dark brown fur

sable antelope
  • South African
9.5

A large African animal like a deer with a dark coat and long curved horns

How Dark

black
1.0
jet black
1 2.8
sable
  • Archaic
2 7.9
deep brown
2 1.0

Surface Forms

sable singular
sables plural

Etymology

Sable for a very dark black color comes from the name of a small animal with rich, dark fur; that animal's name came into English from Russian sobol, and people used the deep color of the fur as the name for the shade, so sable now means a very dark colour.