stabled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of stable.

   The grooms stabled the racehorses as soon as the meet ended.

   After the long ride, the cavalry stabled their mounts for the night.

   Note

   A regular -ed form, so one spelling serves for both the past (they stabled the horses) and the participle (the horses were stabled). The verb behind it is mostly transitive: grooms stable horses, and depots stable trains. It also has an intransitive use, in which an animal that stables dwells in a stable. Placed before a noun, the participle becomes the adjective for housed animals.

2. 2
   adjective

   Kept or housed within a stable, as horses and other livestock typically are.

   The stabled horses grew restless as the long winter dragged on.

   Visitors were not permitted near the stabled animals during the show.

3. 3
   adjective

   Parked and standing out of service, said of a train or its rolling stock between duties.

   The commuter units sat stabled at the depot until the morning rush.

   With the line closed, the freight cars remained stabled in the yard for days.

   Similarparked, idle

   Note

   Railway working has kept the horse's vocabulary. A train put away between duties is stabled, much as a horse is stabled for the night. The word applies only to rail vehicles such as units, carriages and freight cars. Cars and buses are simply parked. It sits naturally after a verb of position (sat stabled, remained stabled) and rests on a transitive verb: crews stable a train in a depot or yard.

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