stable

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stable1

▶adjective (stabler, stablest)

• 1 not likely to give way or overturn; firmly fixed.

• 2 not likely to change or fail.

  ■ not deteriorating in health after an injury or operation.

  ■ emotionally well-balanced.

• 3 not liable to undergo chemical decomposition or radioactive decay.

– derivatives
stably adverb.

– origin ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr., from L. stabilis, from the base of stare ‘to stand’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stable2

▶noun

• 1 a building for housing horses.

• 2 an establishment where racehorses are kept and trained.

• 3 an establishment producing particular types of people or things.

▶verb

• 1 put or keep (a horse) in a stable.

• 2 put or base (a train) in a depot.

– phrases
shut (or bolt) the stable door after the horse has bolted Brit. try to prevent something undesirable when it is already too late to do so.

– derivatives
stableful noun (pl. stablefuls).

– origin ME: shortening of OFr. estable ‘stable, pigsty’, from L. stabulum, from the base of stare ‘to stand’.