Wiktionary

stable

English

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Wikipedia Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The interior of a horse stable (sense 1)

From Middle English stable, borrowed from Anglo-Norman stable, singular derived from the plural Latin stab(u)la (“dwellings, stables”).

Noun

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stable (plural stables)

  2. A building, wing or dependency set apart and adapted for lodging and feeding (and training) ungulates, especially horses.
    Synonym: horsebarn
    Coordinate terms: byre, sty
    There were stalls for fourteen horses in the squire's stables.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.
  3. (metonymic) All the racehorses of a particular stable, i.e. belonging to a given owner.
  4. (Scotland) A set of advocates; a barristers' chambers.
  5. (sumo) An organization of sumo wrestlers who live and train together.
    Synonym: heya
  6. (professional wrestling) A group of wrestlers who support each other within a wrestling storyline.
    • 2022 September 17, Thomas Kika, “WWE's Logan Paul Confronts Roman Reigns Amid Rumors of Major Title Bout”, in Newsweek‎[1]:
      Paul, who signed with WWE in late June, appeared in a segment with Reigns' stable, the Bloodline, on Friday's episode of SmackDown after making comments earlier in the week regarding a potential match with the Tribal Chief.
  7. (slang) A group of prostitutes managed by one pimp.
    Synonym: string
    • 2013, Noble Dee, Pimp: Reflection of My Life, page 167:
      My pimp vision enabled me to see that no hoe in my stable would be more worthy of the game than my young turnout red-bones.
  8. A group of people who are looked after, mentored, or trained in one place or for a particular purpose or profession.
  9. A coherent or consistent set of things (typically abstract) available or presented; array.
    • 2013, Sandra F. Sperino, “Statutory Proximate Cause”, in Notre Dame Law Review, volume 88, number 3, page 1207:
      This Article argues that to date, the Supreme Court has drawn from a narrow stable of arguments to create a fairly standard, yet coarse, analysis to consider when to apply proximate cause to statutes.
    • 2019 January, Leila McNeill, “Surely You’re a Creep, Mr. Feynman”, in The Baffler‎[2], number 43:
      Built into the popular conception of the genius mythos in the sciences is something more than mere intelligence; the solitary free-thinking scientist is also expected to showcase a proclivity for eccentricity, rule breaking, and unconventional thinking and behavior. But when it comes to the abuse of scientific power for sexual predation, this stable of behaviors represents a slippery slope.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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stable (third-person singular simple present stables, present participle stabling, simple past and past participle stabled)

  1. (transitive) To put or keep (an animal) in a stable.
    • 1883 September 25, R. H. Lundie, “Licensed Victuallers and Sunday-Closing”, in Liverpool Daily Post, number 8807, published 26 September 1883, page 5, column 7:
      It is not difficult for the wealthy brewer or pluralist publican, while he takes his ease in his comfortable dwelling on the Lord’s Day, or rolls in his chariot to the house of prayer, to denounce the agitation in favour of Sunday-closing, while his weary barmen and barmaidens “work from early morn to midnight” to carpet his ample halls and stable his well-fed horses.
    • 1954, C. S. Lewis, chapter 7, in The Horse and His Boy, Collins, published 1998:
      "I hope your have been quite comfortable." ¶ "Never better stabled in my life," said Bree.
  2. (intransitive) To dwell in a stable.
  3. (rail transport, transitive) To park (a rail vehicle).
    • 1960 July, Trains Illustrated, page 385, photo caption:
      S.R. Pacific No. 34010 Sidmouth leaves Wembley Central to stable the stock of its excursion from the S.R. at North Wembley; the train was run in connection with a Wembley football event on April 30, 1960.
    • 2020 April 22, “Fleet News: Passenger operators put parts of fleet into warm storage...”, in Rail, page 25:
      Great Western Railway has placed its Class 143 Pacer fleet into warm storage, with the majority stabled at Exeter.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Stable (sense 1) scales

From Middle English stable, from Anglo-Norman stable, stabel, from Latin stabilis (“firm, steadfast”) (itself from stare (“stand”) + -abilis (“able”)). Displaced native Old English staþolfæst.

Adjective

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stable (comparative stabler or more stable, superlative stablest or most stable)

  1. Relatively unchanging, steady, permanent; firmly fixed or established; consistent; not easily moved, altered, or destroyed.
    He was in a stable relationship.
    a stable government
    • a. 1729, John Rogers, The Greatness of the Gospel Salvation:
      In this region of chance, […] where nothing ws stable.
    • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 16:
      And to whoever that cry hath ever come he must needs follow and follow, leaving all stable things; only to be always with Slid in all the moods of Slid, to find no rest until he reaches the sea.
  2. (computing) Of software: established to be relatively free of bugs, as opposed to a beta version.
    You should download the 1.9 version of that video editing software: it is the latest stable version. The newer beta version has some bugs.
  3. (computer science, of a sorting algorithm) That maintains the relative order of items that compare as equal.
  4. (commutative algebra, of a filtration   of a module   over a ring with respect to an ideal (here   but often   etc.) of that ring) Eventually satisfying the identity  .
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin stabilis. Replaced Middle French, Old French estable, an earlier borrowing from the same Latin source.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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stable (plural stables)

  1. stable (relatively unchanging)
    Antonym: instable
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Descendants

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  • → Turkish: stabil

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Anglo-Norman stable, singular derived from the plural Latin stab(u)la (“dwellings, stables”).

Noun

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stable (plural stables or stablen)

  1. stable (building for horses)
    • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 28–29:
      The chambres and the stables weren wyde, / And wel we weren esed atte beste;
      The rooms and stables spacious were and wide, / And well we there were eased, and of the best.
Alternative forms
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Descendants
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References
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Etymology 2

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From Anglo-Norman stable, stabel, from Latin stabilis (“firm, steadfast”).

Adjective

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stable (comparative stabler or stablere or stablour)

  1. stable (relatively unchanging)
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Descendants
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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stable (plural stables)

  1. Alternative form of stablie

Etymology 4

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Noun

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stable (plural stables)

  1. Alternative form of stapel

Etymology 5

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Verb

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stable (third-person singular simple present stableth, present participle stablende, stablynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle stabled)

  1. Alternative form of stablen (“to establish”)

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From the noun stabel.

Verb

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stable (imperative stabl or stable, present tense stabler, passive stables, simple past and past participle stabla or stablet, present participle stablende)

  1. to stack, pile

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From the noun stabel.

Verb

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stable (present tense stablar, past tense stabla, past participle stabla, passive infinitive stablast, present participle stablande, imperative stable/stabl)

  1. to stack, pile

Alternative forms

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References

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