A cable is a thick, strong rope made of many wires twisted together, or a bundle of electrical wires wrapped in protective covering. Construction workers use steel cables to support bridges and elevators, trusting these twisted metal strands to hold enormous weight safely. Your computer or phone charger contains cables that carry electricity from the wall to your device.

The word also refers to a system for sending television signals through underground or overhead cables. For decades, families subscribed to cable TV to get more channels than regular broadcast television offered. Someone might say they're going to “watch cable” or that a show aired “on cable.”

Ships use cables too. An anchor cable connects a ship's anchor to the vessel, sometimes stretching hundreds of feet down to the ocean floor. When sailors drop anchor, they're really letting out the anchor cable.

In the 1800s, engineers laid the first transatlantic cable across the ocean floor between America and Europe, making it possible to send telegraph messages between continents in minutes instead of weeks by ship. Today, internet cables crisscross the ocean floor, connecting the world's computers and making global communication nearly instant.