King James Bible Dictionary

STABLE, adjective [Latin The primary sense is set, fixed. See Stab.]

1. Fixed; firmly established; not to be easily moved, shaken or overthrown; as a stable government.

2. Steady in purpose; constant; firm in resolution; not easily diverted from a purpose; not fickle or wavering; as a stable man; a stable character.

3. Fixed; steady; firm; not easily surrendered or abandoned; as a man of stable principles.

4. Durable; not subject to be overthrown or changed.

In this region of chance and vanity, where nothing is stable--

STABLE, verb transitive To fix; to establish. [Not used.]

STABLE, noun [Latin , a stand, a fixed place, like stall. See the latter. These words do not primarily imply a covering for horses or cattle.] A house or shed for beasts to lodge and feed in. In large towns, a stable is usually a building for horses only, or horses and cows, and often connected with a coach house. In the country towns in the northern states of America, a stable is usually an apartment in a barn in which hay and grain are deposited.

STABLE, verb transitive To put or keep in a stable Our farmers generally stable not only horses, but oxen and cows in winter, and sometimes young cattle.

STABLE, verb intransitive To dwell or lodge in a stable; to dwell in an inclosed place; to kennel.

STABLE-BOY, STABLE-MAN, noun A boy or a man who attends at a stable.

STABLED, participle passive Put or kept in a stable.

STABLE-BOY, STABLE-MAN noun A boy or a man who attends at a stable.

STABLENESS, noun

1. Fixedness; firmness of position or establishment; strength to stand; stability; as the stableness of a throne or of a system of laws.

2. Steadiness; constancy; firmness of purpose; stability; as stableness of character, of mind, of principles or opinions.

STABLESTAND, noun [stable and stand.] In law, when man is found at his standing in the forest with a cross bow bent, ready to shoot at a deer, or with a long bow; or standing close by a tree with grayhounds in a leash ready to slip. This is one of the four presumptions that a man intends stealing the kings deer.