Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. any group of people working under one manager.

1904		McClure’s Mag. Apr. 661/1: Kelly and his ‘stable’ as the retinue of rubbers and ‘workout’ boxers are known to the devotees of pugilism, had been at Ocean View [DA].
1924		C.S. Montanye ‘The Might That Failed’ in Top Notch 1 Apr. 🌐 ‘Lucky’ Watson—one of the pushovers in Murray Bain’s stable.
1930		J.T. Farrell ‘Twenty-five Bucks’ in Short Stories (1937) 184: Dane was one of Sol’s stable, fresh from Minnesota.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 45: [of boxers] You come to work for me [...] building up a stable and handling the boys.
1954		M. Bodenheim My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village (1961) 100: The Village novelist had a ‘stable’ of chorus girls at his estate.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 113: The ‘Gestapo’ are a group of boxers all training at one ‘stable’.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 437: I was still in the Dieterling stable, but I was a boy ingenue.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 13: [M]ain squeeze in Darryl Zanuck’s all-starlet stable.

2. a group of prostitutes working for a pimp; occas. referring to heterosexual males.

[1663		Head Hic et Ubique II ii: That stable that admits of all sorts of horses to litter in, now and then meets with a running Nag].
1928		Hecht & MacArthur Front Page Act III: You and your Goddam stable of tarts!
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 164: I’m going to have you in my stable one of these days.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act II: Lay off dem. Harry’s party ain’t no time to beat up your stable.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 28: Most croupiers and dealers usually have from three to five girls in their stables.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 34: Marsha Lee was [...] eternally grieving about the new arrivals to her man’s stable.
1963		‘Geoffrey Tolhurst’ Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 86: ‘Who’s Slim?’ I asked. ‘My — ‘ she hesitated. ‘My boy friend. Looks after you real well. Got the best stable in Sydney’.
1965		(con. 1940s) Malcolm X Autobiog. (1968) 210: This Lesbian, a beautiful white woman, had a male Negro stable [...] She supplied negro males, on order, to well-to-do white women.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 15: That’s why I got a stable of good young whores instead of some dopefiend bitches that shoot up all the profit.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 182: She’d seen Jacqui get hit on, and Bernice and Natalie from Fleetwood Mack’s stable both hop into passing cars.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 137: I ain’t been running a stable for some time, Mike.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 25: That little pimp kid Careta, who [...] had set up a fine stable of young rentable pussy.
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 119: He even had a stable of women that he ran. I think he’s got brothels and massage parlours all over the country.
2005		E. White My Lives 123: I had a (male) madam [...] who would call up boys in his stable.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 148: ‘I tried to recruit her to my stable, but she wouldn’t hear of it’.

3. (US) a group of regular prostitute’s clients.

1961

T.I. Rubin In the Life 12: Was just getting hot in the business. Was getting my own stable of steady Johns.

4. (US) on model of sense 2, a sadist’s collection of masochists.

a.1989

Bizarre Lifestyles 1 in Murray & Murrell Lang. Sadomasochism (1989) 126: Male slaves invited to apply for position in my stable.