Sabine 
their wives by force from among the Sabines, this incident 
being known as the "Rape of the Sabiue Women." 
sable (sa'bl), i. and a. [Early mod. E. also 
sabett; < ME. sable, the sable, the color black, 
= D. sabcl = Icel. saful, safali, the sable, = Sp. 
Pg. sable, black, < OF. sable, the sable, also the 
color black, F. sable, black (ML. sabelum, sa- 
bvllum), = G. zobel = Dan. Sw. sobcl, the sable, 
< Buss, soboli = Bohem. Pol. sobol = Lith. 
sabalas = Hung, czoboly, the sable; cf. Turk. 
Hind, samur, < Ar. samur, the sable.] I. n. 1. 
A digitigrade carnivorous quadruped, Mustela 
zibellina, of the family Mustelidse and subfamily 
Musteline, closely related to the martens. It 
inhabits arctic and subarctic regions of the Old World, 
especially Russia and Siberia, having a copious lustrous 
pelage, of a dark-brown or blackish color, yielding one 
of the most highly prized of pelts. The animal is about 
18 inches long, with a full bushy tail nearly a foot long ; 
the limbs are short and stout, with small paws. The 
nose is sharp, and the ears are pricked. There are three 
kinds of hairs in the pelage a short soft dense under-fur, 
a second set of longer hairs, kinky like the first but com- 
ing to the surface, and fewer longer glistening hairs, 
bristly to the very roots. The pursuit of the sable forms 
an important industry in Siberia. The pelt is in the best 
order in winter. The darkest furs are the most valuable. 
None are dead-black, nor is the animal ever uniformly 
dark-colored, the head being quite gray or even whitish, 
and there is usually a large tawny space on the throat, 
which color may be found also in blotches over much of 
the under surface. Some other martens, resembling the 
true sable, receive the same name. Thus, the American 
marten, M. ainericana, is a sable hardly distinguishable 
from that of Siberia, except in some technicid dental 
characters. Its fur is very valuable, though usually not 
so dark as that of the Siberian sable. M. melanopus of 
Japan is a kind of sable. See also cut under marten*. 
2. The dressed pelt or fur of the sable. 3. 
The color black in a general sense, and espe- 
cially as the color of mourning : so called with 
reference to the general dark color of the fur 
of the sable as compared with other furs, or 
from its being dyed black as sealskin is dyed. 
Quhen thai tak honour othir or sic thingis, thai sit in 
sable and siluer that euery bringis. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 96. 
4. A black cloth or covering of any kind; 
mourning-garments in general ; a suit of black: 
often in the plural. 
Now have ye cause to clothe yow in sable. 
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 284. 
To clothe in noble every social scene. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 872. 
At last Sir Edward and his son appeared in their sables, 
both very grave and preoccupied. 
llrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xxx. 
5. A fine paint-brush or pencil made of hairfrom 
the tail of the sable. 6. In her., black; one of 
the tinctures, represented when 
the colors are not given, as in 
engraving, by a close network 
of vertical and horizontal lines. 
Abbreviated/S.,sa. See also cut 
underpa^. 7. A British col- 
lectors name of certain pyralid 
moths. Bntys idgrata is the 
wavy-barred sable, and B. lin- 
gulata is the silver-barred sable Alaska sable, 
the fur of the common American skunk, Mephitis ameri- 
cana, as dressed for commercial purposes. [Trade-name. ] 
Audubon and Bachman's statement that the fur [of the 
skunk] "is seldom used by the hatters, and never,we think, 
by the furriers ; and, from the disagreeable task of prepar- 
ing the skin, it is not considered an article of commerce," 
was wide of the mark, unless it was penned before "Alaska 
sable " became fashionable. 
Coues, Fur-bearing Animals (1877), p. 217. 
American sable, the American marten, Mustela ameri- 
cana. See marferii. Red or Tatar sable, the chorok or 
Siberian mink, Putorius sibiricus ; also, the fur or pelt of 
this animal. See kolinsky. Siberian or Russian sable 
See def. 1. 
II. o.l. Made of sable: as, a. volte muff or tip- 
pet. 2. Of the color of a sable ; dark-brown; 
5288 
blackish. 3. Black, especially as applied to 
mourning, or as an attribute. 
Her riding-suit was of sable hew black, 
Cypress over her face. 
Itobin Hood and the Stranger (Child's Ballads, V. 411). 
He whose sable arms, 
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble, 
* In it.. Hamlet, ii. 2. 474. 
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud 
Turn forth her silver lining on the night? 
Milton, Comus, 1. 221. 
The hues of bliss more brightly glow, 
Chastised by sabler tints of woe. 
Gray, Ode on Vicissitude. 
Sable antelope, an antelope, Hippotragui (or Jigocerus) 
niger. Sable mouse, the lemming, Myodes lemmtts. See 
cut under lemming. 
sable (sa'bl), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sabled, ppr. 
sabling. [< sable, .] To make like sable in 
color; darken; blacken; hence, figuratively, to 
make sad or dismal ; sadden. 
And tabled all in black the shady sky. 
Q. Fletcher, Christ's Triumph over Death. 
sable-fish (sa'bl -fish), n. The hilsah of the 
Ganges. 
sableize (sa'bl-iz), c. *. ; pret. and pp. sableized, 
ppr. sablcizing. [< sable + -ire.] To make 
black; blacken; darken. Also sabelize. 
Some chroniclers that write of kingdomes states 
Do so absurdly sableize my White 
With Maskes and Enterludes by day and night. 
Davits, Paper's Complaint, 1. 241. (Davits.) 
sable-Stoled (sa'bl-stold), . Wearing a black 
stole ; hence, clothed or robed in black. 
The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshipt ark. 
Milt'Hi. Nativity, L 220. 
sable-vested (sa'bl-ves'ted), a. Clothed with 
black. 
With him [Chaos] enthroned 
Sat noble-vested Night, eldest of things, 
The consort of his reign. Milton, P. L., ii. 002. 
sabliere 1 (sab-li-ar'), . [< F. sabliere, sand- 
pit, < sable, sand, < L. sabulum, sand: see sabu- 
lous.] A sand-pit. [Rare.] 
sabliere 2 (sab-li-ar'), n. [< F. sabliere, a rais- 
ing-piece; origin unknown.] In cor;)., same as 
raising-piece. Imp. Diet. 
sabot (sa-bo'), n. [< F. sabot, a wooden shoe, 
in mech. a socket, shoe, skid, etc., OF. sabot, 
qabot, F. dial, sibot, chabou, chabot, cabou, a 
wooden shoe ; perhaps related to F. savate, OF. 
cai-ate, chavate = Pr. sabata = Sp. zapata, za- 
bata, zapato = Pg.sapato = It. ciavatta, ciabat- 
ta, an old shoe, < ML. sabbatum, a shoe: see 
sabbaton.] 1. (a) A wooden shoe, made of one 
piece hollowed out 
by boring-tools and 
scrapers, worn by the 
peasantry in France, 
Belgium, etc. (fe)In 
parts of France, a 
sort of shoe consist- 
ing of a thick wooden 
sole with sides and 
top of coarse leather ; 
a sort of clog worn in wet weather. 2. A 
thick circular wooden disk to which a pro- 
jectile is attached so as to maintain its proper 
position in the bore of a gun; also, a metallic 
cup or disk fixed to the bottom of an elon- 
gated projectile so as to fill the bore and take 
the rifling when the gun is discharged. 3. A 
pointed iron shoe used to protect the end of a 
file. 4. In harp-making, one of the little disks 
with projecting pins by which a string is short- 
ened when a pedal is depressed. 
sabotier (sa-bo-tia'), n. [F. sabotier, a maker 
of sabots, < sabot, a wooden shoe: see sabot.] 
A wearer of sabots or wooden shoes; hence, 
contemptuously, one of the Waldenses. 
sabre, . and v. See saber. 
sabretash (sa'ber-tash), n. [Also sabretache, 
sabretasclie; < F. sabretache, <G. sabeltasche, a 
loose pouch hanging near the saber, worn by 
hussars, < sabel, a saber, + tasche, a pocket.] 
A case or receptacle, usually of leather, sus- 
pended from the sword-belt by straps, and hang- 
ing beside the saber : it is worn by officers and 
men of certain mounted corps. See cut in next 
column. 
Pnttenhani's Art of Poetry . . . might be compared to 
an Art of Wai 1 , of which one book treated of barrack drill, 
and the other of busbies, sabre-tasches, and different forms 
of epaulettes and feathers. R. W. Church, Spenser, ii. 
sabrina-work (sa-bri'na-werk), . A variety 
of application embroidery, the larger parts of 
the design being cut out of some textile ma- 
terial and sewed to a background, needlework 
supply ing the bordering and the smaller details. 
sacar 
Breton Salxjt, with straw inserted for 
warmth and to serve as a cushion. 
A Member of the Scots Greys, a British cavalry regiment, wearing 
Sabretash. (After drawing by Elizabeth Butler. } 
sabuline (sab'u-lin), a. [< L. sabulum, sand, 
+ -iiit-l.] Same as sabulous. 
sabulose (sab'u-los), a. [< L. sabulosus, sandy : 
see sabulous."^ 1. Same as sabulous. 2. In 
l>ot., growing in sandy places. 
sabulosity (sab-u-los'i-ti), n. [=Pg. sabulosi- 
dade; &ss<ibulose+ -iiy.'] The quality of being 
sabulous; sandiness; grittiness. 
sabulous (sab'u-lus), a. [= Sp. Pg. sabuloso 
= It. sabbioso, { L. sabulosus, sandy, < sabulum, 
sand.] Sandy; gritty; aeervulous: specifically 
applied (a) in anatomy to the acervulus cere- 
bri, or gritty substance of the pineal body of 
the brain; (6) in medicine to gritty sediment 
or deposit in urine. Also sabulose, sabuline. 
Saburean (sa-bu're-an), n. One of a class of 
Jewish scholars which arose soon after the 
publication of the Talmud and endeavored to 
lessen its authority by doubts and criticisms, 
but became extinct in less than a century. 
saburra (sa-bur'a), n. [NL., < L. saburra, sand, 
akin to sabulum, "coarse sand, gravel.] A foul- 
ness of the stomach. [Rare.] 
saburral (sa-bur'al), a. [< saburra + -al.~\ Per- 
taining to saburra. 
saburration (sab-u-ra'shon), . [< L. saburra, 
sand (see saburra), + -ation.] 1. The applica- 
tion of hot sand to any part of the body ; sand- 
bathing; arenation. 2. In zool., the act of 
taking a sand-bath or rolling in the sand, as is 
done by gallinaceous birds ; pulverizing. See 
.pulverizer, 2. 
sac 1 (sak), H. [< AF. sac (AL. saca, sacca, 
xacha, saka), < AS. sacu, strife, contention, suit, 
litigation, jurisdiction in litigious suits: see 
soi-el. Cf. soc.] In late, the privilege enjoyed 
by the lord of a manor of holding courts, trying 
causes, and imposing fines. Also saecage. 
Every grant of sac and soc to an ecclesiastical corpora- 
tion or to a private man established a separate jurisdic- 
tion, cut off from the regular authorities of the mark, the 
hundred, the shire, and the kingdom. 
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 309. 
sac 2 (sak), n. [< F. sac, < L. saccus, a bag: see 
Mtefc*.] In bot., anat., and zool., a sack, cyst, 
bag, bursa, pouch, purse, or receptacle of some 
kind specified by a qualifying word ; a saccule ; 
a saccus. Adipose, ambulacra!, amnlotic, ampul- 
laceous, branchial, cardiac sac. See the adjectives. 
Calcareous sac. Same as calciferous gland (which 
see, under gland). Cirrus-sac. See cirrus. Copulat- 
ing sac. the seminal reservoir of the male dragon-fly. See 
ijenital lobe, under genital. Dental sac. See dental. 
Embryo sac. See embryo-sac. Galactopliorous sac, 
the ampulla of the galactophorous duct. Gastric sac. 
See gastric. Hernia! sac, the sac or pouch of peritoneum 
which is pushed outward, and surrounds the protruding 
portion of intestine. Lacrymal sac. See lacrymal. 
Masticatory sac. See masticatory. Needham's sac. 
Same as Xeedham's pmtch (which see, under pouch). 
Otolithic, peritoneal, pharyngeal, pulmonary, py- 
loric, respiratory sac. See the adjectives. Yolk sac. 
See yolk-sac. = Syn. Soc, Saccitle, Sacms, Sacmhis. The 
first two are English, the last two Latin and only techni- 
cally used, chiefly in special phrases. There is no such 
difference in meaning as the form of the words would im- 
ply, some of the largest sacs being called saccule* or sac- 
culi, some of the smallest sacs or sacci. 
Sac 3 (sak, more properly sak), . A member of 
a tribe of Algonkin Indians, allied to the Foxes, 
who lived near the upper Mississippi previous 
to the Black Hawk war of 1832. The greater 
part are now on reservations. 
sacalai, . Same as cra/>i>ie. 
sacart, . An obsolete form 
