What does caballing mean?
Caballing is the present participle of the verb 'to cabal', meaning to conspire or engage in secret intrigue with others, usually to gain political power or advance a faction's interests. The word carries strong connotations of covert, often self-serving manoeuvring — whispered meetings, hidden alliances, and schemes hatched away from public view. It is most at home in formal, literary, and historical writing, frequently describing the politics of courts, cabinets, and committees where rivals plot behind closed doors. A typical usage might be 'ministers were caballing against the leader'. The noun 'cabal' itself refers both to such a secretive group and to its schemes. The word's origin is striking: it derives from French 'cabale', ultimately from Hebrew 'qabbalah', the mystical tradition of Jewish learning. Though less frequently encountered in everyday speech than synonyms like 'plotting' or 'scheming', caballing remains a vivid, evocative term whenever clandestine political manoeuvring is the subject.
verb (present participle)The present participle of 'cabal': engaging in secret intrigue or conspiring with others for a political or self-interested purpose.
- Engaging in secret conspiracy or political intrigue with others, typically for factional or personal advantage.
"Rumours spread that ministers had been caballing against the prime minister behind closed doors."
"Senior officials were accused of caballing to block the reform."
"In the novel's court scenes, nobles spend their days caballing for influence over the ageing king."
Before it meant political scheming, 'cabal' was borrowed from Hebrew 'qabbalah', the Jewish mystical tradition — an unlikely journey from sacred texts to backroom plots.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of caballing
Caballing derives from the verb 'cabal', which entered English from the French 'cabale' during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The French term traces further back through medieval Latin 'cabbala' to the Hebrew 'qabbalah', meaning 'received' tradition — the body of Jewish mystical teachings. In English, 'cabal' came to denote both a small group of secret plotters and the act of conspiring itself, giving rise to forms like caballing.
Related word forms
How caballing is actually used
Somewhat formal and literary in register; the verb 'cabal' is less common today than the noun, and 'caballing' often appears in historical or political writing about court and factional intrigue.
Easily confused with caballing
'Cobbling' means mending shoes or clumsily putting something together, while 'caballing' means plotting secretly.
'Cavilling' means making trivial objections, whereas 'caballing' means engaging in secret conspiracy.