Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SA'BLE, n. [Russ. sobol; G. zobel; Sw. Dan. and D. sabel; Fr. zibeline; It. zibellino; Sp. cebellina; L. zoboia or zobola, an ermine. This word and the animal were probably not known to the Greeks and Romans till a late period. Jornandes mentions the sending to Rome, in the 6th century, saphilinas pelles, sable skins; and Marco Polo calls them zibelines and zombolines. – Pennant, 1. 93.]

1. A digitigrade carnivorous mammal; a small animal of the weasel kind, the Mustela zibellina, found in the northern latitudes of America and Asia. It resembles the martin, but has a longer head and ears. Its hair is cinereous, but black at the tips. This animal burrows in the earth or under trees; in winter and summer subsisting on small animals, and in autumn on berries. The fur is very valuable. – Encyc.
2. The fur of the sable.