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CAB
CAABA, or Caabah, properly ſignifies a ſquare building; but is particularly applied by the Mahometans to the temple of Mecca, built, as they pretend, by Abraham and Iſmael his ſon. It is towards this temple they always turn their faces when they pray, in whatever part of the world they happen to be. This temple enjoys the privilege of an aſylum for all ſorts of criminals; but it is moſt remarkable for the pilgrimages made to it by the devout muſſulmans, who pay ſo great a veneration to it, that they believe a ſingle ſight of its ſacred walls, without any particular act of devotion, is as meritorious, in the ſight of God, as the moſt careful diſcharge of one's duty, for the ſpace of a whole year, in any other temple.
CAB, an Hebrew dry meaſure, being the ſixth part of
a ſeah or ſatum, and the eighteenth part of an ephah:
A cab contained 236 pints of our corn meaſure: A
quarter-cab was the meaſure of dove's dung, or more
properly a ſort of chick-peaſe, called by this name,
ſold at Samaria, during the ſiege of that
city, for five ſhekels.
CABALIST, in French commerce, a factor, or perſon, who is concerned in managing the trade of another.
CABALLARIA, in middle-age writers, lands held by the tenure of furniſhing a horſeman, with ſuitable equipage, in time of war, or when the lord had occaſion for him.
CABALLEROS, or Cavalleros, are Spaniſh wools, of which there is a pretty conſiderable trada at Bayonne, in France.
CABALLINE denotes ſomething belonging to horſes:
Thus caballine aloes is ſo called, from its being chiefly
uſed for purging horſes; and common brimſtone is called ſulphur caballinum, for a like reaſon.
CABBAGE, in botany. See Brassica.
Cabbage-tree, a name ſometimes given to the palm
tree, called by Linnæus, phœnix. See Phoenix.
CABBAGING, among gardeners, a term uſed for the
knitting of cabbages into round heads.
CABBALA, according to the Hebrew ſtyle, has a very
diſtinct ſigniſication from that wherein we underſtand
it in our language. The Hebrew cabbala ſignilies tradition; and the rabbins, who are called cabbaliſts, ſtudy
principally the combination of particular words, letters, and numbers, and by this means pretend to diſcover what is to come, and to ſee clearly into the ſenſe
of many difficult paſſages in ſcripture: There are no
ſure principles of this knowledge, but it depends upon ſome particular traditions of the ancients; for which
reaſon it is termed cabbala.
The cabbaliſts have abundance of names, which they call ſacred: Theſe they make uſe of in invoking of ſpirits, and imagine that they receive great light from them: They tell us, that the ſecrets of the cabbala were diſcovered to Moſes on mount Sinai; and that theſe have been delivered down to them from father to ſon, without interruption, and without any uſe of letters; for to write them down, is what they are by no means permitted to do. This is likewiſe termed the oral law, becauſe it paſſed from father to ſon, in order to diftinguiſh it from the written laws.
There is another Cabbala, called artificial, which conſiſts in ſearching for abtruſe and myſterious ſignifications of a word in ſcripture, from whence they borrow certain explanations, by combining the letters
