cable's length

or cable length


noun
  1. a nautical unit of length equivalent to 720 feet (219 meters) in the U.S. Navy and 608 feet (185 meters) in the British Navy.

Origin of cable's length

1
First recorded in 1545–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cable's length in a sentence

  • Four-tenths of a second would make a difference of only one-tenth of a mile—a cable-length!

  • The strange boat was steadily forging up-stream and presently it was disclosed to view no more than a cable-length away.

    Blackbeard: Buccaneer | Ralph D. Paine
  • They came leisurely towards us, those eight ugly craft, about a cable length apart, steering towards the very centre of our line.

    Sir Ludar | Talbot Baines Reed
  • You see, we could pass within a cable length of one of those Austrian monitors now and they'd never know it.

    Under Fire For Servia | Colonel James Fiske
  • Frightfully she labours, that poor ship, within cable-length of port; huge peril for her.

    The French Revolution | Thomas Carlyle