A ship’s cable formed of a chain. Also attrib.
So called on coming into more general use in the early part of this [19th] century, to distinguish it from the ordinary (hemp) cable; now that it has almost entirely superseded the latter, ‘cable’ alone generally means chain-cable.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xix. His nerves were like a chain-cable.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VI. l. 200.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, ix. Chain-cable forges.
