ca·bal (kah-bal)
n. A conspiratorial group of plotters or intriguers: “Espionage is quite precisely ita cabal of powerful men, working secretly” (Frank Conroy).
A secret scheme or plot.
intr.v. ca·balled, ca·bal·ling, ca·bals
To form a cabal; conspire.
[French cabale, from Medieval Latin cabala. See kabbalah.]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
cabal
\Ca*bal"\ (k[.a]*b[a^]l"), n. [F. cabale cabal, cabala, LL. cabala cabala, fr. Heb. qabb[=a]l[=e]h reception, tradition, mysterious doctrine, fr. q[=a]bal to take or receive, in Pi["e]l qibbel to adopt (a doctrine).] 1. Tradition; occult doctrine. See Cabala [Obs.] --Hakewill.
2. A secret. [Obs.] ``The measuring of the temple, a cabal found out but lately.'' --B. Jonson.
3. A number of persons united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in church or state by intrigue; a secret association composed of a few designing persons; a junto.
Note: It so happend, by a whimsical coincidence, that in 1671 the cabinet consisted of five persons, the initial letters of whose names made up the word cabal<'i>; Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale. --Macaulay.
4. The secret artifices or machinations of a few persons united in a close design; intrigue.
By cursed cabals of women. --Dryden.
Syn: Junto; intrigue; plot; combination; conspiracy.
Usage: Cabal, Combination, Faction. An association for some purpose considered to be bad is the idea common to these terms. A combination is an organized union of individuals for mutual support, in urging their demands or resisting the claims of others, and may be good or bad according to circumstances; as, a combiniation of workmen or of employers to effect or to prevent a change in prices. A cabal is a secret association of a few individuals who seek by cunning practices to obtain office and power. A faction is a larger body than a cabal, employed for selfish purposes in agitating the community and working up an excitement with a view to change the existing order of things. ``Selfishness, insubordination, and laxity of morals give rise to combinations, which belong particularly to the lower orders of society. Restless, jealous, ambitious, and little minds are ever forming cabals. Factions belong especially to free governments, and are raised by busy and turbulent spirits for selfish purposes''. --Crabb.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
cabal
\Ca*bal"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Caballed (-b[a^]ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. Caballing]. [Cf. F. cabaler.] To unite in a small party to promote private views and interests by intrigue; to intrigue; to plot.
Caballing still against it with the great. --Dryden.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
cabal
n 1: a clique that seeks power usually through intrigue [syn: faction, junta, junto, camarilla] 2: a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act (especially a political plot) [syn: conspiracy] v : enter into a conspiracy; "They conspired to overthrow the government" [syn: conspire, complot]
From the book Thereby Hangs a Tale: Stories of Curious Word Origins by Charles Earle Funk:
"There has long been a popular notion that this word was formed from the initials of the name of five of he members of the English ministry who were particularly given to intrigue during the reign of Charles II, especially during the period from 1667 to 1673. There were indeed five such men, and because of them the word cabal did aquire additional prominence. Their names were Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. But the word did not arise from their initials; it had been in the language before their time. These five men were not the only ministers who met for secret intrigues, in fact, and they were not likely to meet often with such a purpose. Two of them usually met with one cabal or set of connivers and the other three with another. These five, nevertheless, were those who signed the infamous and secret Treaty of Alliance with France in 1672, without sanction of Parliament, and thereby plunged the nation into war with Holland in defiance of existing treaties.
Cabal actually comes, however, from cabbala, sometimes written cabala. This was the name used by the Jews for their traditional and occult interpretation of the Old Testament. Thus the word came to apply to anything that was hidden or secret. In English use it became contracted to cabal and came to mean a secret or conspiratorial intrigue."