What is "sable"

marten \mar"ten\, n. [From older martern, marter, martre, F. martre, marte, LL. martures (pl.), fr. L. martes; akin to AS. mear[eth], meard, G. marder, OHG. mardar, Icel. m["o]r[eth]r. Cf. Foumart.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several fur-bearing carnivores of the genus Martes (formerly Mustela), closely allied to the sable. Among the more important species are the European beech marten or stone marten ( Martes foina); the pine marten ( Martes martes); and the American marten, or sable ( Martes Americana), which some zo["o]logists consider only a variety of the Russian sable.

2. The fur of the marten, used for hats, muffs, etc.

"fur or pelt of the European sable" (Martes zibellina), early 15c., from Middle French sable (also martre sable "sable martin"), in reference to the mammal or its fur, borrowed in Old French from Germanic (Middle Dutch sabel, Middle Low German sabel, Middle High German zobel), ultimately from a Slavic source (compare Russian, Czech sobol, Polish soból, the name of the animal), "which itself is borrowed from an East-Asiatic language" [Klein], but Russian sources (such as Vasmer) find none of the proposed candidates satisfactory.

"black" as a heraldic color, early 14c., commonly identified with sable (n.1), but the animal's fur is brown and this may be a different word of unknown origin; or it might reflect a medieval custom (unattested) of dyeing sable fur black. As an adjective from late 14c. Emblematic of mourning or grief from c.1600; c.1800 as "black" with reference to Africans and their descendants, often with mock dignity.

a. 1 Of the black colour sable. 2 (context tincture English): In blazon, of the colour black. 3 Made of sable fur. 4 Dark, somber. n. 1 A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, ''Martes zibellina'', from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sable%20(animal)). 2 The marten, especially (taxlink Mustela americana species noshow=1). 3 The fur or pelt of the sable or other species of martens; a coat made from this fur. 4 An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sable%20(heraldry)). 5 (lb en tincture) A black colour on a coat of arms. 6 A black colour, resembling the fur of some sables. 7 (lb en in the plural sables) Black garments, especially worn in mourning.

adj. dark somewhat brownish black

1. n. an artist's brush made of sable hair [syn: sable brush, sable's hair pencil]

2. the expensive dark brown fur of the marten

3. a very dark black [syn: coal black, ebony, jet black, pitch black, soot black]

4. a scarf (or trimming) made of sable

5. marten of northern Asian forests having luxuriant dark brown fur [syn: Martes zibellina]

Rena Marlette Lesnar ( née Greek and formerly Mero and Richardson; born August 8, 1967), better known as Sable, is an American model, actress, and retired professional wrestler. She is primarily known for her time in WWE. Before gaining popularity in the world of professional wrestling, she began working for WWE in 1996. As Sable, she was one of the first WWE Divas, and gained considerable popularity. After feuding with Luna Vachon, and Jacqueline, Sable became the second WWF Women's Champion after the title was reinstated into the company. After becoming a heel and leaving the company, she filed a $110 million lawsuit against the company, citing allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions.

In 2003, she returned to WWE and was put into a feud with Torrie Wilson, and another storyline as Vince McMahon's mistress. In 2004, she left the company to spend more time with her family. Outside of wrestling, she has been featured on the cover of Playboy three times. The April 1999 issue of the magazine with her on the cover was one of the highest selling issues in Playboy history. She has guest starred on several television series, including Pacific Blue, and appeared in the film Corky Romano.

In heraldry, sable is the tincture black, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures, called "colours". In engravings and line drawings, it is sometimes depicted as a region of crossed horizontal and vertical lines or else marked with sa. as an abbreviation.

The name derives from the black fur of the sable, a species of marten.

A sable is a mammal in the mustelid (weasel) family.

Sable may also refer to:

Sablé is a French round shortbread cookie, originates in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, in Sarthe.

SABLE is an XML markup language used to annotate texts for speech synthesis. It defines tags that control how written words, numbers, and sentences are audibly reproduced by a computer. SABLE was developed as an informal joint project between Sun Microsystems, AT&T, Bell Labs, and Edinburgh University (the initial letters of each make the word "SABLE") as an initiative to combine three previous speech synthesis markup languages SSML, STML, and JSML.

SABLE is used in the Festival Speech Synthesis System.

Development on SABLE appears to have stopped in 2010, and it has not reached the status of a formal standard or recommended specification.

Sable is a television program that aired on ABC during the 1987-1988 season, and is based on the comic book, Jon Sable: Freelance, by Mike Grell. Seven episodes of the series aired.

The show was a one-hour adventure/drama about mercenary and vigilante Jon Sable ( Lewis Van Bergen), who by day was children's book author Nicholas Fleming. The program ran on Saturdays at 8:00, and aired its final episode on January 2, 1988. Rene Russo had her first television role on the series. Lara Flynn Boyle also had one of her first acting roles playing a kidnapped girl in the series pilot.

In the original comic book, Jon Sable had been an Olympic pentathlete, winning the bronze medal. After that, he was a mercenary for a foreign army, then wound up in Africa watching over an animal preserve. Poachers killed his wife and family.

Back in the U.S., Sable wrote a novel about his experiences. Eden Kendall, a New York City literary agent, rejected it, but was intrigued by the stories he told his children around the campfire. Those were expanded to become best-selling book and products.

Jon Sable adopted a "secret identity" as the children's book writer by the name of B. B. Flemm. For promotional appearances, he wore a blonde wig and glasses. The success of the books made Sable rich. It did nothing for his hunger for adventure.

Shortly, Jon Sable began to hire himself out to freelance for those who needed his help.

The television show made changes. Sable was wanted for murder in Africa, having slain the man who killed his wife and children. A wanted man, Sable made his way back to the U.S. He met Eden Kendall, who managed to handle his literary career. Sable was known to the public as Nicholas Flemming. Eden also became his love interest, although the relationship seemed strained.

Sable could be reached by ads in the newspaper, or Sable would intervene in situations involving friends. His fee was never mentioned, but it was apparently a high figure. Sometimes there was no fee at all.

Since Sable used his own face in his civilian life, he disguised himself when he freelanced. Taking a cue from the comics, Sable used makeup to make camouflage marks across his face. In the original comic, he used the ashes of his burned home to create a "battlemask" which he wore to pursue his family's murderer.

In the seventh, final, episode, Sable didn't wear any battlemask. When someone mentioned the stories about him running around in a Halloween mask, he said that he didn't do that anymore. That episode mentioned that Sable did some sort of work for the organization (Mafia) in New York. The TV Sable operated out of Chicago, where the series was filmed.

Sable was aided by his old Army buddy, Cheesecake Tyson, who lost his sight when they served in Viet Nam. Tyson, despite being blind, was a computer wizard, helping Sable do research.

The pilot started shooting with Gene Simmons of KISS in the title role. Some network officials weren't pleased with his look when they saw the first footage, one claimed he was paunchy. Over the weekend, Simmons was replaced with actor Lewis Van Bergen. Some scenes with Simmons remain in the pilot when Sable made his way through a darkened room with a flashlight. In that scene, Sable was basically a silhouette.

Both Sables were quite athletic. The TV version rappelled down buildings. The comic book Sable was a firearms expert, who didn't hesitate to shoot. The TV Sable didn't load his gun, except in the second episode.

Sable often seemed depressed. The deaths of his wife and children weighed heavily on him, as did his guilt of taking a human life in anger. In the second episode, he gave his loaded gun to his disarmed opponent, telling him that he wanted to die.

The series is posted on YouTube.