cable
part of speech
noun (cable, cables); verb (cable — old: send a telegram)
meaning for a pupil
1) A cable is a thick, strong wire or rope. Cables hold up bridges and pull lifts. tree →
2) A cable is also a set of wires inside a cover that carries electricity, telephone calls, TV or internet. tree →
3) Cable TV is television that comes through cables. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: a length to cut, join or share, measured in metres or feet; or cables counted; cutting into pieces needs one cut fewer than pieces. In science: electric cables are made of copper wire covered with plastic, which does not carry electricity. Safety: never touch a damaged cable or pull a plug by its cable. Phrases: power cable, charging cable, cable car, cable TV, undersea cable.
examples
- A cable is 12 m long. tree →
- He cuts the cable into 4 equal pieces. tree →
- Each cable costs $6. tree →
- The bridge is held by 40 cables. tree →
- My phone needs a charging cable. tree →
- We rode a cable car up the mountain. tree →
- Never pull a plug out by its cable. tree →
- The internet cable runs under the sea between countries. tree →
- The cable was about as thick as packthread, and the bars of the length and size of a knitting-needle. tree →
note
Countable: a cable, cables. A length to cut, join or share. Trap: cutting into 4 pieces needs only 3 cuts. Safety: keep cables away from water.
In the corpora
- Damaged cables, hot plugs and chargers smothered under bedding are warning signs of a fault that can start a fire.
- Never touch or use a frayed cable with wires showing; tell a grown-up.
- An iron stays hot long after it is switched off, and a dangling cable can be pulled so that the iron falls.
- Charging cables carry high power, so children never play with them or their plugs.
- A lift is a box on strong cables that run over a wheel at the top of the building.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «cable» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.