What is "to part a cable"

Part \Part\ (p[aum]rt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Parted; p. pr. & vb. n. Parting.] [F. partir, L. partire, partiri, p. p. partitus, fr. pars, gen. partis, a part. See Part, n.]

1. To divide; to separate into distinct parts; to break into two or more parts or pieces; to sever. ``Thou shalt part it in pieces.''
   --Lev. ii. 6.

   There, [celestial love] parted into rainbow hues.
   --Keble.

2. To divide into shares; to divide and distribute; to allot; to apportion; to share.

   To part his throne, and share his heaven with thee.
   --Pope.

   They parted my raiment among them.
   --John xix. 24.

3. To separate or disunite; to cause to go apart; to remove from contact or contiguity; to sunder.

   The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.
   --Ruth i. 17.

   While he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
   --Luke xxiv. 51.

   The narrow seas that part The French and English.
   --Shak.

4. Hence: To hold apart; to stand between; to intervene betwixt, as combatants.

   The stumbling night did part our weary powers.
   --Shak.

5. To separate by a process of extraction, elimination, or secretion; as, to part gold from silver.

   The liver minds his own affair, . . . And parts and strains the vital juices.
   --Prior.

6. To leave; to quit. [Obs.]

   Since presently your souls must part your bodies.
   --Shak.

7. To separate (a collection of objects) into smaller collections; as, to part one's hair in the middle.

   To part a cable (Naut.), to break it.

   To part company, to separate, as travelers or companions.