Word of the day -- cabal

Friday's word of the day was cabal, meaning upright and fine or full and clear. The first meaning (applying to people) makes sense to me if I think of cabal as being the root of caballero. The second meaning (applying to an idea or picture of something) doesn't seem as intuitive to me.

Now I'm wondering about the etymology of the English word "cabal" -- a small group of plotters does not seem very upright or fine to me.