| 释义 |
▪ I. table, n.|ˈteɪb(ə)l|
Forms: 1 tabule, tabula, 3 tabele, 5 tabel, -yl(e, -ule, 5–6 -ell(e, -il, -ill(e, -ull(e, -yll(e, 6 -ul; 2– table.
[In OE. tabule wk. fem. (already a 900), later also tabele, ad. L. tabula. In ME. table (a 1200), a. F. table (11th c.), ad. L. tabula a flat board, a plank, a board to play on, a writing tablet, a written tablet, a writing, a list, an account, a painted tablet, a painting, a votive tablet, a flat piece of ground, prob. from same root as taberna tavern.
L. tabula became by ordinary phonetic progression in Romanic, tavola (as in It.), *tav'la, taula (in Pr.), tavle, taule (in OF.), tôle (F. = sheet of metal); but in most of the langs. these phonetic forms were superseded by others assimilated to the L., as F. table, Sp. tabla, Pg. taboa. The word entered Teutonic at different stages; app. bef. 400 in WGer. as *taƀal, repr. by OHG. zabal, ON. tafl, board for a game, and OE. tæfl, tæfel die, tablet, ME. tavel1, q.v.; also later, influenced by L., OHG. tavala, -ela (MHG. tavel(e, MLG., MDu. tāfele, tāvele, Ger., Du. tafel, Da. tavle, Sw. tafel) table; OE. beside tabule had tabul masc. and tablu fem.]
I. Ordinary senses.
* A flat slab or board.
1. A flat and comparatively thin piece of wood, stone, metal, or other solid material (usually shaped by art); a board, plate, slab, or tablet; as a slab forming the top of an altar, or part of a pavement, etc., or a tablet used for ornament or other purpose; also applied to natural formations, as the laminæ of a slaty rock. Obs. exc. in special applications: see also senses 2–4.
a900tr. Bæda's Hist. v. xi. §2 (Camb. MS.; see ed. Miller, pp. 416, 523), Hæfdon hi mid him ᵹehealᵹode fato and ᵹehalᵹode tabulan [MS. B. ᵹehalᵹode tablu, O. ᵹehalᵹodne tabul] on wiᵹbedes wrixle [L. tabulam altaris vice]. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 1003 Þe calsydoyne..In þe þryd table con purly pale. c1440Alphabet of Tales 39 He layed hym downe before þe ya[tt], & knokkid with his tables as lepre men duse. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 35 In tablys of marbyl coryously wrout. 1507Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 253 Item, for ane tabil of gold to the Kingis bonet. 1530Palsgr. 278/2 Table for an auter, table dautel. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xx. 57 The inner part of the temple is altogether plastered and couered with great tables of Porphyre. 1672J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 100 A fair Table curiously made up with Beads likewise, to wear before their Breast. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 75, I observed by the ways side several Rocks of black Stone..which were all divided into Tables, hardly thicker than blew Slates,..but joyned very close together. 1730W. Warren Collect. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 225 A Marble Table for y⊇ Side-board on a Mohogany Stand. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps iii. §17. 83 The dark, flat, solid tables of leafage. 1889Philos. Mag. May 409 Strata which..lie in their original horizontal position. These parts are called ‘tables’ by Suess.
†b. A board or plank (in quots., a plank used as a raft after shipwreck); hence fig. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. III. 296 He..broghte him sauf upon a table, Which to the lond him hath upbore. c1440Gesta Rom. lxv. 293 (Harl. MS.) Þerfor seiyth Ierome, Penitencia est secunda tabula post naufragium, Penaunce is the secunde table after naufragie. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lvii. 194 We saued vs on a table of wode. 1617Janua Ling. 6 Contrition of heart is a second table after shipwracke.
2. spec.
a. A tablet bearing or intended for an inscription or device: as the stone tablets on which the ten commandments were inscribed, a memorial tablet fixed in a wall, a votive tablet, a notice-board, etc. arch.
c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 327 Þæra ᵹeara ᵹetæl hæfð seo tabule þe we mearkian willað. c1175Lamb. Hom. 11 Efter þan drihten him bi-tahte twa stanene tables breode on hwulche godalmihti heofde iwriten þa ten laȝe. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3535 And gaf to tabeles of ston, And .x. bodeword writen ðor-on. a1300Cursor M. 6541 Þe tables þat in hand he [Moses] bare To pees he þam brak right þar. c1400Mandeville (1839) ii. 10 The table abouen his heued..on the whiche the tytle was writen, in Ebreu, Greu, and Latyn. 1543N. Heath Injunctions in Frere Use of Sarum II. 236 Certain prayers..conteyned in Tabylles sett in the grammer scole. 1641Evelyn Mem. 4 Oct., Divers votive tables and relics. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. vi. 311 The last Laws of the Decemvirs engraved upon Tables of Brass. 1849James Woodman viii, As stern as the statue of Moses breaking the tables.
†b. A small portable tablet for writing upon, esp. for notes or memoranda; a writing-tablet. Often in phr. a pair (of) tables. Obs.
rased table = tabula rasa: see tabula 1 b.
a1300Cursor M. 11087 Þam asked þan sir zachari Tables and a pontel tite. 1382Wyclif 1 Macc. xiv. 17 Thei wryten to hym in brasen tablis. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 257 Charles..bare a peyre of tables for to write ynne. 1451J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. 25 He took a peyre tables, and wroot in þe wax al his desir. 1555Eden Decades 51 Rased or vnpaynted tables are apte to receaue what formes soo euer are fyrst drawen theron. a1592Greene Jas. IV Wks. (Rtldg.) 193 Draw your tables, and write what wise I speak. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair iv. iii, I saw one of you buy a paire of tables, e'en now. 1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 184/1 These things are imprinted and form'd in her as in a Table.
c. fig. (from a or b). Obs. or arch.
1382Wyclif 2 Cor. iii. 3 Writun..not in stoony tablis, but in fleischly tablis of herte. 1599Davies Immort. Soul cccxxxv, All these true notes of Immortalitie In our Hearts Tables we shall written find. 1602Ld. Mountjoy Let. 25 Feb. in Moryson Itin. ii. (1617) 268, I should..sooner and more easily..haue made this Countrey a rased table, wherein shee might haue written her owne lawes. 1693Bentley Serm. (J.), The mighty volumes of visible nature, and the everlasting tables of right reason.
d. Anc. Hist. (a) pl. The tablets on which certain collections of ancient Greek and Roman laws were inscribed; hence applied to the laws themselves; esp. the Twelve Tables, drawn up by the decemviri 451 and 450 b.c., embodying the most important rules of Roman law, and forming the chief basis of subsequent legislation. (b) new tables (tr. L. novæ tabulæ): see quot. 1727–38.
1726Ayliffe Parergon 33 By the Law of the twelve Tables, only those were called unto the Legal or Intestate Succession of their Parents, that were in the Parent's power at the time of his Death. 1727–38Chambers Cycl. s.v., New Tables, Tabulæ novæ, an edict occasionally published, in the Roman commonwealth, for the abolishing all kinds of debts, and annulling all obligations. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xliv. (1790) VIII. 8 In the comparison of the tables of Solon with those of the Decemvirs, some casual resemblance may be found. 1847Grote Greece ii. x. (1849) III. 156 There occurred at Rome several political changes which brought about new tables or at least a partial depreciation of contracts. 1875Maine Hist. Inst. i. 10 The Roman law..is descended from a small body of Aryan customs reduced to writing in the fifth century b.c., and known as the Twelve Tables of Rome.
e. first table, second table: the two divisions of the decalogue, relating to religious and moral duties respectively, held to have occupied the two ‘tables of stone’. Hence attrib.
1560Maitl. Club Misc. III. 249 Committing..adultery brekand the third command of the Second table. 1605James I Gunpowder Plot in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 6 All the impieties and sins, that can be devised against both the first and second table. 1672G. Newton in Life J. Alleine iv. (1838) 37 He was a second table man, a man of morals. 1873H. Rogers Orig. Bible i. 21 The great commands of the ‘Second Table’ are ultimately based on the relations in which all creatures stand to Him who demands our homage in the ‘First Table’.
†3. A board or other flat surface on which a picture is painted; hence, the picture itself. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 399 Þe baner of þe cros wiþ a crucifix i-peynt in a table [L. in tabula depicti]. a1425St. Eliz. of Spalbeck in Anglia VIII. 110/5 A tabil, ful wele depeynte with an ymage of oure lorde crucifyed. 1538Starkey England i. ii. 28 Aftur the sentence of Arystotyl, the mynd of Man fyrst of hyt selfe ys as a clene and pure tabul, wherin ys no thyng payntyd or carvyd. 1538Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 120 That he may also take the Phisionomie of her that he may ioine her sister and her in a faire table. 1606Peacham Art Drawing 7 Cesar..redeemed the tables of Ajax and Medæa for eighty talents. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 145/1 On this Frame [an easel] Painters set their Cloth or Table while it is in working. 1700T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 74 My Picture is not yet dry: I will bring you this Table some Months hence.
fig.c1600Shakes. Sonn. xxiv, Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath steeld, Thy beauties forme in table of my heart.
4.
†a. The ‘board’ on which chess, draughts, backgammon, or any similar game is played. Obs.
c1470MS. Ashmole 344 (Bodl.) lf. 22 This is a Iupertie that may neuer be mated out of the medylle of the table. 1474Caxton Chesse i. iii. (1883) 14 Then the philosophre began..to shewe hym the maner of the table of the chesse borde. 1519W. Horman Vulg. lf. 280/1, I have bought a playing tabull, with xii poyntes on the one syde, and chekers on the other syde. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 67/2 Those men as break through the other and come to the opposite side of the table, are then made kings. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. ii. 437 The table for playing at goose is..divided into sixty-two small compartments arranged in a spiral form.
b. Each of the two folding leaves of a backgammon board (inner table and outer table); hence in pl. (often pair of tables), a backgammon board (obs.). Also, the half of each leaf in relation to the player to whom it belongs.
1483Cath. Angl. 376 A paire of Tabyls tabelle. 1573L. Lloyd Marrow of Hist. (1653) 136 The art of dicing and playing divers kinds of games upon tables. 1611Cotgr., Damier, a Chesse-boord; or, paire of Tables. 1657North's Plutarch, Add. Lives (1676) 10 Necessitated to cast up the Cards, to shut the Tables, and to resign the Game. 1745Hoyle Backgam. 22 Two Fours, two of them are to take your Adversary's Cinq Point in his Tables. 1779Mackenzie in Mirror No. 11 ⁋13 [He] snatched up the tables and hit Douglas a blow on the head. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 141 The object of the game is to bring the men round to your own ‘home’, or inner table.
c. Phr. to turn the tables: to reverse the relation between two persons or parties, so as to put each in the other's place or relative condition; to cause a complete reversal of the state of affairs. In the active voice, one of the parties is said to turn the tables (upon the other), in passive, the tables are turned (sometimes † the tables turn).
(A metaphor from the notion of players reversing the position of the board so as to reverse their relative positions.)
1634Sanderson Serm. II. 290 Whosoever thou art that dost another wrong, do but turn the tables: imagine thy neighbour were now playing thy game, and thou his. 1647Digges Unlawf. Taking Arms iii. 70 The tables are quite turned, and your friends have undertaken the same bad game, and play it much worse. 1682Enq. Elect. Sheriffs 31 Whensoever the Tables shall so far turn, as that we have a Mayor who will..drink to one of the contrary and opposite Party. 1713Addison Guard. No. 134 ⁋4 In short, Sir, the tables are now quite turned upon me. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars iii. 165 Suppose the men of the thirteenth century could turn the tables upon us [etc.]. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 33 They had won the first match, though I hoped I might yet turn the tables on them in the return.
** A raised board at which persons may sit.
5. An article of furniture consisting of a flat top of wood, stone, or other solid material, supported on legs or on a central pillar, and used to place things on for various purposes, as for meals (see 6), for some work or occupation, or for ornament.
The specific use is often indicated by a qualifying word, as in billiard-table, dining-table, writing-table, work-table, etc.: see these words. table dormant, dormant table: see dormant A. 3 b. See also Round Table.
a1300,c1330, etc. [see Round Table 1 a]. c1386Table dormant [see dormant a. 3 b]. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 158 Crist..over-turnede in þe temple here tables and here stalles. c1450Brut 446 Next þaim, at the same table syttyng, þe Iustices. a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 227 My lord's great crosse of sylver accustumably stode in the corner, at the table's end. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Table, Round tables take away contention; one being as neere his meat as another. 1625Bacon Ess., Counsel (Arb.) 329 A long Table, and a square Table, or Seats about the Walls. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 78 To make such necessary things as I found I most wanted, as particularly a Chair and a Table. 1853W. Irving in Life & Letters (1864) IV. 131, I see you are in the midst of hocus pocus with moving tables [etc.].
b. Phr. upon the table: under consideration or discussion. to lay on or upon the table: of a legislative or deliberative body, to leave (a report, proposed measure, etc.) for the present, subject to its being considered or called up at any subsequent time; hence, sometimes, to defer its consideration indefinitely (so to lie on the table); more recently also, to present for immediate discussion. Cf. sense 4 a of the vb.
1646R. Baillie Anabaptism (1647) 163 The question of dipping and sprinkling never came upon the Table. 1730E. Knatchbull in Camden Soc. (1963) 3rd Ser. XCIV. 106 So a division for it [sc. a Petition] lying on the table, carried by 163 against 144. 1733in 15th Rep. R. Comm. Hist. MSS. App. vi. 107 in Parl. Papers 1897 (C. 8551) LI. 1 The majority, for laying the Petition on the Table..and not hearing it by counsel, was only seventeen. 1744Archives New Jersey (1882) 1st Ser. VI. 191 The House of Representatives..would not commit it [sc. a bill] but ordered it to lie on the table. 1817Evans Parl. Deb. 336 The petition was ordered to lie on the table. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xix. 343 Shrewsbury laid on the table of the Lords a bill for limiting the duration of Parliaments. 1884Rider Haggard Dawn xlii, The facts are, so to speak, all upon the table, and I will merely touch upon the main heads of my case. 1915J. London Let. 25 Aug. (1966) 458 It is..on the table whether or not we shall say ‘it is I’ or ‘it is me’. 1923H. M. Robert Parl. Law (U.S.) 63 It is in order for a mere majority to lay on the table the questions that have not been disposed of. 1958[see prayer1 5]. 1977Times 14 Apr. 1/3 While stating that those proposals should ‘remain on the table’, he [sc. Ian Smith] is now prepared to listen to new ideas.
c. spec. The table which stands before the Speaker's chair in the House of Commons, at which the Clerk of the House and his assistants receive motions and questions to ministers, etc., and at which new members are sworn in (cf. also prec. sense).
1675Grey's Debates (1769) III. 129 Mr Stockdale, and some others, setting their feet upon the mace, which lay below the table, in the usual place at Grand Committees. 1771London Even. Post 28 Feb.–2 Mar. 3/1 Upon which Mr. Byng and Mr. Buller, seized him by the collar, and brought him up to the table. 1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 312/1 Having first taken the oath himself, he [sc. the Speaker] is followed by other members, who come to the table to be sworn. 1958Spectator 11 July 47/1 Mr. Gaitskell's head wagged up and down as if he wanted to punch a hole in the Table with his nose.
d. A surgeon's operating-table; also, a table or slab on which a body is laid for post-mortem examination.
1917T. S. Eliot Prufrock 9 Like a patient etherized upon a table. 1936G. B. Shaw Millionairess ii. 166, I should have cut my patients entirely away if the nurse had not stopped me before they died on the table. 1941A. Huxley Let. 17 Nov. (1969) 470 The patient will die on the table if operated—off the table, if not operated. 1977P. D. James Death of Expert Witness iv. 226 As for the cause of death..well, you'll have to wait till I get her on the table.
e. Attrib. phr. under-the-table: kept secret, hidden, esp. of clandestine deals or payments. Also (unhyphened) used predicatively and as advb. phr. Cf. under the counter s.v. counter n.3 4 b.
1949Sun (Baltimore) 25 Feb. 19/3 Two home purchasers told a Federal Court jury..that they were required to make under-the-table payments to purchase housing accommodations. 1973W. H. Hallahan Ross Forgery vi. 115 Under-the-table freight rebates reached absurd proportions. 1976Listener 5 Feb. 144/1 Some of the sports do check people's bank accounts to see that they have not got too much money under the table. 1976G. Seymour Glory Boys vii. 85 This bomb that the Israelis keep so much under the table..what state is that in? 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 25 July 839/3 The Rheinmetal company for long refused to pay anything, but eventually arranged for an under-the-table payment of DM2,500,000 (which provided $425 for each of its former slaves).
f. A table around which parties (esp. in an industrial dispute) sit to discuss points at issue; a negotiating table. round-the-table adj. phr., designating such discussions; (up)on the table: see sense 5 b.
1963[see recreationist]. 1976West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 15 Dec. 1. 9/4 Transport and General Workers' Union officials want round-the-table talks with the management. 1980Times 6 Feb. 1/1 We hope to get our negotiators around the table as soon as possible.
6. spec. An article of furniture as described in 5 upon which food is served, and at or around which persons sit at a meal; often in phr. at table, at a meal or meals; for the table, for eating a meal, for food. (Often passing into c.)
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 101, I haue yherde hiegh men etyng atte table. c1386Chaucer Prol. 100 He..carf biforn his fader at the table. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 67 Nat gredy at the table. c1500Doctr. Gd. Servaunts (Percy Soc.) 8 Ye servauntes that wayte upon the table. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 163 They are a very good dishe for the table. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 164 You doe consecrate your tables, by setting salt-sellers and images of Gods upon the boord. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 18 He never deigns to discourse at Table with any below a Brother Captain. 1785Holcroft Tales of Castle (ed. 2) I. 65 Just as the family were sitting down to table. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy ii, He shared in the hospitality of all the best tables in the county. 1855Delamer Kitch. Gard. (1861) 19 The greening [of potatoes]..renders them unfit for table.
†b. A board (cf. sense 1) upon which food is served, placed on trestles or supports (the whole constituting a ‘table’ in the existing sense), and ‘taken up’ or removed at the conclusion of the meal. Obs.
[1390Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 49/18 Pro j tabula comensali cum j pare tresteles.] c1440Promp. Parv. 485/1 Table, mete boord that ys borne a-wey whan' mete ys doon, cillaba. 15..Adam Bel 569 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 162 Take vp the table, anone he bad: For I may eate no more. 1612Shelton Quix. i. iv. vi. 358 Dinner being ended, and the table taken vp.
c. transf. Provision of food for meals; supply of food; fare; = board n. 7; entertainment of a family or guests at table; eating, feasting.
c1400Langl.'s P. Pl. C. xvii. 322 Hus wone is to wende in pilgrymages, Ther poure men and prysouns beþ, and payeþ for here lyflode [v.rr. fode, table]. 1426–7Rec. St. Mary at Hill 67 Also payd for Elymesfordes table ix dayes, euery day ij d. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. v. (Arb.) 30 My father..keepes an open table for all kinde of dogges. 1611Cotgr., Tenir bonne table, to keepe a good table, to fare well. 1672Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 97 The King allows mee..10li a weeke for a table. 1722B. Star tr. Mlle. de St. Phale's Mem. i. 4 My Mother..entertained thoughts of placing me in a Convent, paying for my Table. 1882Harper's Mag. LXV. 598 Boarding at four dollars a week, and not a very good table at that.
(b) the pleasures of the table [tr. F. les plaisirs de la table], good food and drink, considered as a source of enjoyment.
1769F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. 146, I love the pleasures of the table. 1825Scott Talism. in Tales of Crusaders III. xi. 212 Richard..despised the inclination of the German for the pleasures of the table. 1845[see Sard n.2 1]. 1942G. M. Trevelyan Eng. Social Hist. xiii. 408 Eighteenth Century Englishmen were much addicted to the pleasures of the table. 1981T. Fitzgibbon (title) The pleasures of the table.
d. Slang phr. (to put, etc.) under the table, (to make) drunk to the point of insensibility.
1921W. S. Maughan Trembling of Leaf 28 Walker had always been a heavy drinker, he was proud of his capacity to see men half his age under the table. 1924D. Marquis Old Soak's Hist. World vi. 32 By three therty everybody was under the tabil. 1936V. W. Brooks Flowering of New England v. 95 He was far from sober, or would have been if two tumblers of brandy had been enough to put him under the table.
7. Usually with defining word, as the Lord's table, the holy table: (a) In a church, that upon which the elements are placed at the Communion; the communion table: esp. when the rite is not regarded as a sacrifice (cf. altar 2 b); (b) transf. The Communion.
1340Ayenb. 236 Godes table is þe wyeued. Þe coupe is þe chalis. 1526Tindale 1 Cor. x. 21 Ye cannot be parte takers off the lordes table, and off the table off devyls. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Comm. Prayer, Communion, Not suffering them to bee partakers of the Lordes table untill he knowe them to bee reconciled. 1550Acts Privy Counc. (1891) III. 170 That it was convenyent to take downe the aultars as thinges abused, and in liewe of them to sett up tables as thinges moste meete for the Supper of the Lorde, and most agreable to the first constitution. 1552Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion, The Table hauyng at the Communion tyme a fayre white lynnen clothe vpon it. 1678Evelyn Diary 22 Mar., Now was our communion table plac'd altar-wise. a1711Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 203 Just in the midst was th' Holy Table plac'd, Where it the Past'ral Chair directly fac'd. a1751Doddridge Hymn, My God, and is Thy table spread? 1890Bp. W. W. How Holy Communion ii. 66 You will now have some little space of time for private prayer and meditation,..before you go up to the Holy Table. 1902T. M. Lindsay Ch. & Min. in Early Cent. vi. 254 After the celebration the faithful, who all remained in the church, came forward to the ‘Table’.
b. In Presbyterian churches, applied also to each dispensing of the Sacrament on a Communion Sabbath.
Formerly, it was usual to have three or more ‘tables’, one after another; it is still common to have two. to fence the tables: see fence v. 9.
1709[see fence v. 9]. 1714T. Boston Mem. 24 Aug., I communicated at the fourth table. 1840R. McCheyne in Mem. v. 133 At the last table every head seemed bent like a bulrush while A. B. spoke.
8. transf. A company of persons at a table.
c1330–1485 [see Round Table 1 c]. 1532More Confut. Tindale iii. 177 Lyke a iugler that conuayeth his galles so craftely, that all the table spyeth them. 1890Doyle White Company ix, King Arthur and all his table could not have done more.
b. The company at dinner or at a meal.
1602Shakes. Ham. v. i. 211 Your flashes of Merriment that were wont to set the Table on a Rore. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 75 ⁋15 He..carries me the first dish, in defiance of the frowns and whispers of the table. 1778Phil. Surv. S. Irel. 424 His flashes of wit and humour keep the table in a roar.
c. An official body of persons who sit at a table for the transaction of business; = board n. 8 b. Obs. exc. in special connexions.
the Tables in Sc. Hist., the permanent committees formed in 1638, to defend the Presbyterian system, by whom the National Covenant was framed. Table of Magnates and Table of Deputies, the two divisions of the former Hungarian Diet.
1606L. Bryskett Civ. Life 8, I myselfe can testifie with how good contentment of all the table you did serue so many yeares. 1640–1Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 40 For the foirsaid ryot,..and for the upbraiding of the table, by saying that he was committit to ward without ane fault. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. §52 Committees of dexterous men have been appointed out of the Table to do the business of it. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 149 In despight of the Kings Proclamation, [they] erected Four Tables, one of the Nobility, another of the Gentry, a third of the Burroughs, a fourth of the Ministers; these four were to prepare and digest what was to be propounded at the General Table. 1665Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 336 Impositions without parliament, committments by councell table. 1673Essex Papers (Camden) 96 There were then two elections in being, one made by y⊇ Lord Mayor in y⊇ presence & wth y⊇ consent of a Table of Aldermen & Sheriffs, & another by y⊇ Lord Mayor singly, in y⊇ presence of a Table of Aldermen & Sheriffs. 1890Blair Bellesheim's Hist. Cath. Ch. Scot. IV. 5 The National Covenant..was framed by four committees called the Tables.
9. a. A table on which some game of chance is played; a gaming-table; also, the company of players at such a table.
1750Johnson Rambler No. 15 ⁋11, I perpetually embarrassed my partner, and soon perceived the contempt of the whole table gathering upon me. 1770Foote Lame Lover ii. Wks. 1799 II. 80 Lady Cicely..has six tables every Sunday. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xiii, The plan will be for two to bank against the table. 1879W. Collins Haunted Hotel iii. 21 A gambler at every ‘table’ on the Continent.
b. to lay, put (or play with) (all) one's cards on the table: see card n.2 2 d.
c. Bridge. The hand belonging to dummy.
1959Listener 7 May 808/2 The lead of the Queen from the table allows East's K 9 x to be smothered. 1960T. Reese Play Bridge with Reese 127, I play low from table. 1974Country Life 28 Feb. 453/2 South won with the Ace, crossed to the Spade Ace on the table, and led a Club.
*** A tabulated arrangement or statement.
10. An arrangement of numbers, words, or items of any kind, in a definite and compact form, so as to exhibit some set of facts or relations in a distinct and comprehensive way, for convenience of study, reference, or calculation. Now chiefly applied to an arrangement in columns and lines occupying a single page or sheet, as the multiplication table, tables of weights and measures, a table of logarithms, astronomical tables, insurance tables, time-tables, etc. But formerly sometimes merely: An orderly arrangement of particulars, a list.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 545 Hise tables tolletanes forth he brought Ful wel corrected ne ther lakked nought. c1391― Astrol. ii. §45 So many ȝeris, monythis, & dayes entere in-to thy tabelis of thy mene mote. c1400Prymer (1891) 13 In this table men mowe knowe..what day schal be Ester day. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 8 The most parte of Globes and mappes are made after Ptolomeus Tables. 1617Moryson Itin. To Rdr., A briefe Table expressing the value of the small Coynes most commonly spent. 1660J. Moore Arith. ii. 5 All decimal Arithmetick is brought to that scale or degree..as appears by the Table in the beginning of my other Book. 1674The multiplication-table [see multiplication 6]. 1712Addison Spect. No. 421 ⁋ 8 A Table of the principal Contents in each Paper. 1758Reid tr. Macquer's Chem. I. 159 Explanation of the Table of Affinities. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. iii. 221 A statistical table, on which he had in a regular manner taken the whole province of New Mexico,..giving latitude, longitude, and population. 1858Buckle Civiliz. (1864) II. ii. 182 Tables of mortality. 1863–72Watts Dict. Chem. I. 464 Table of Atomic Weights.
†b. absol. = table of contents (content n.1 2 b): a concise and orderly list of contents, or an index; in quot. 1460 applied to a concordance. Obs.
1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 154 He was eke the first begynner of the Concordauns, whech is a tabil onto the Bibil. c1550H. Lloyd Treas. Health, The table of this boke. 1583(title) The Newe Testament..with a Table or Concordance, Englished by L. Tomson. 1614Selden Titles Hon. Pref. B iij, Out of the Title, Table, and Contents of the Chapters..the Summe and Method discouer themselues. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 393 A Table to the First Volume. 1824J. Johnson Typogr. I. 317 The Work contains three Prologues and a Table, which occupy nine leaves.
†c. A statement of particulars or details in a concise form, so as to be exhibited at one view, as in a broadside; a synoptical statement; a document embodying such a statement. In quot. a 1577 fig., a sketch, plan, scheme. Obs.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. xviii. 260 b, margin, The Protestauntes answer to the table of outlawery. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1609) 134 This being as a project or table of a Commonwealth truly laid before you. 1593–4(Mar. 20) Proclam. Privy Counc. in Arb. Garner I. 299 In this brief Table is set down the punishment appointed for the offenders. 1599Massinger, etc. Old Law ii. i, He bought a table, indeed, Only to learn to die by 't.
†d. geographical table: a map or chart. Obs.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 106 A chorographicall table or mappe of Britaine. 1654tr. Martini's Conq. China A iij b, I thought it good to prefix a little Geographical table of the Countries, and chief Cities, which might serve as a guide to conduct the eye of the understanding.
e. tables: the common arithmetical tables, as the multiplication table and those of money, weights, and measures, esp. as learnt at school.
1828Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. 125 (Village School⁓mistress) She is going to be a governess..and it's to be hoped the little ladies will take kindly to their tables. 1893K. Grahame Pagan Papers (1894) 127 He had ‘gone into tables’, and had been endowed with a new slate.
f. = league table s.v. league n.2 5.
1951Sport 6–12 Apr. 10/4 Mr. Drake has been the guiding light behind a remarkable revival that has taken the club soaring up the table. 1972G. Green Great Moments in Sport: Soccer v. 62 Around Christmas, they had begun to catch a tide of success as they crept slowly up the table. 1976Western Mail (Cardiff) 27 Nov. 20/2 Newcastle, third in the table thanks to their midweek win over Everton.
II. Special and technical senses (chiefly arising out of sense 1).
†11. pl. tables, formerly the ordinary name of backgammon (Obs. since c 1750); app. orig. the ‘men’ or pieces used in playing early forms of this game: cf. med.L. tabulæ, OF. tables, ON. tafla, pl. töflur, in same sense.
Chiefly in the phr. to play at (the) tables, OF. juer as tables (Chans. Rol. 11th c.). In this application the name has in later use been often associated with sense 4 b.
[a700Epinal Gl. 6 Alea teblae. c725Corp. Gl. 110 Alea tebl.] 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3965 Wiþ pleynge atte tables oþer atte chekere. a1300Cursor M. 28338 (Cott.), I ha me liked..til idel gammes, chess and tablis. 1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11392 Somme pleide wyþ des & tables. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋719 Now comth hasardrie with hise apurtenances as tables and Rafles. 1472Surtees Misc. (1888) 25 John Coke suffers men to play in his hous at the tablez for mony by nyghtes. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 149 b, A proclamacion..against al vnlawfull games..in all places, Tables, Dice, Cardes, and Boules, were taken and brent. 1665Pepys Diary 21 Sept., After losing a crowne betting at Tables, we walked home. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 10 Tables & Draughts are allowed, yet must they not play at them for Money. 1808Scott Marm. i. xxii, Full well at tables can he play, And sweep at bowls the stake away.
12. Arch.
a. A general term for a horizontal projecting course or moulding, as a cornice; a string-course. Usually with defining word, as base-table, bench-t., corbel-t., earth-t., grass-t., ground-t., water-t.: see these words.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 789 Ande eft a ful huge heȝt hit haled vpon lofte, Of harde hewen ston vp to þe tablez. 1447–8Corbel table [see corbel n. 3]. 1640Ground-table [see ground n. 18]. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 472/1 The Foot Table, is a Square Corner standing out at the bottom, or middle sides of the Gable end. 1845Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 3) 357 The word table, when used separately without any adjunctive term to point out its position, appears to have signified the cornice, but it is very usually associated with other epithets which define its situation, as base-table, earth-table, or ground-table, bench-table, corbel-table, &c. Ibid., Earth Table, or Ground Table, and Grass Table, the plinth of a wall.., or lowest course of projecting stones immediately above the ground.
b. A member consisting of a flat vertical surface, usually of rectangular form, plain or ornamented, sunk in or projecting beyond the general surface of a wall, etc.; a panel.
1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. No. 6. 113 In Plate 6. s is the Table. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 37 A large Table plain'd in the side of the Rock. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Pedestal, The generality of architects..use tables or pannels, either in relievo or creux, in the dyes of pedestals. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 594 Table, projecting or raised. Ibid., Table, raking; one not perpendicular to the horizon. 1876Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v., When the surface is rough, frosted, or vermiculated, from being broken with the hammer, it is called a rusticated table.
13.
†a. A plot of ground for planting; a bed. Cf. tablemeal. Obs. rare.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. i. 810 Mark oute thi tables [gloss beddes], ichon by hem selve. Ibid. ii. 99 [heading De tabulis vinearum] The tables for thi vynes maist thou make..as the list, or as thi lande Wol axe.
b. A flat elevated tract of land; a table-land, plateau; a flat mountain-top; also Geol. applied to a horizontal stratum.
1587Harrison England i. i. 1/2 Albeit the continent hereof..lieth as it were a long table betweene the two seas. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 428 There was a Region, called by Ptolemeus, Randa marcostra, wherein he placeth the eleventh Table of Asia. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 13 The ascent to the Sugar-loafe and Table [Table Mountain], two Hils so named. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 155 A valley..nearly..filled up from side to side by a level table of land. 1888J. D. Whitney Names & Places 181 (Cent. D.) The flat summits of mountains are sometimes called ‘tables’, and especially in California, where there are several ‘table mountains’..capped usually with horizontal or table-like masses of basalt.
c. A flat hedge-bank: see quot. dial.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 574 The hedger lays them, with the grass side downwards, upon the edges of the set⁓sods,..pushing them under and as if to support the thorn roots with them. These..are called the table.
14. Palmistry. The quadrangular space between certain lines in the palm of the hand: see quots., and cf. table-line in 22.
c1460J. Metham Wks. 86 The fourthe lyne ys the tabyl lyne, for that parte off the hand ys clepyd the tabyl the qwyche ys be-twene the myd lyne and the tabyl lyne. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 167 If anie man in Italie haue a fairer table which doth offer to sweare vpon a booke, I shall haue good fortune. 1625Shirley Love Tricks v. i. (1631) 63 In this table Lies your story; 'tis no fable, Not a line within your hand But I easily vnderstand. 1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 87 This space is called the Table of the hand, which hath on the one side the Mensal Line, on the other the middle Natural Line. 1883Frith & Heron-Allen Chiromancy 138 The Quadrangle is that portion of the human hand comprised between the line of the Head and the line of the Heart, and between the line of Fate and the line of Apollo. It is sometimes called the table of the Hand.
15.
†a. A small cake of some drug or confection: = tablet n. 3. Obs.
1580Frampton Monardi's Dial. Yron 162 Then take a small table of rosade of a sweete smel. 1621Venner Tobacco (1650) 410 Tables made with an Ounce or two of fine sugar dissolved in Fennell water.
b. A large flat circular disk, plate, or sheet of crown-glass, being the form in which it is made.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 385/2 A Table is a broad peece of Glass neere a yard, some more, square, it is also called a Tablet. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Glass, The number of tables annealed at a time. Ibid., Ratcliff crown glass..the tables being of a circular form, about three foot six inches in diameter. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 420 The glass is bought by the crate, which consists of twelve tables. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 144 The ‘table’ of crown glass is from four to five feet across.
c. A crystal of flattened or short prismatic form.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 362 Crystallized in rhomboidal tables. 1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 106 Table..is but a very short prism. 1857Miller Elem. Chem. (1862) III. 542 The acid benzoate of potash..in colourless, pearly tables,..sparingly soluble in water.
d. A sheet (of lead).
1809Bawdwen Domesday Bk. 294 These manors paid in King Edward's time..five cartloads of lead of fifty tables [orig. v plaustratas plumbi de l tabulis].
16. Anat. Each of the two dense bony layers of the skull, separated by the diploë.
1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 3 If a Fracture happen in the Cranium, with contusion and depression of both the Tables thereof. 1799Hooper Med. Dict., Diploe..the spongy substance between the two tables of the skull. 1898Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., The inner or vitreous table is compared to porcelain, and is close-grained and brittle.
17. A flat plate, board, or the like, forming part of a mechanism or apparatus.
†a. The face or dial-plate of a clock or watch.
a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. iv. 326 To fit the Table with Divisions suitable to the Hours. Ibid. vi. 341 The Wheels, and the Ballance, and the Case, and Table.
b. In various manufactures, A flat metal plate (often movable or adjustable) for supporting something to be operated upon, etc.; the plate with a raised rim on which plate-glass is made.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Glass, The table of glass is now in its last perfection... When taken out, they lay it on a table of copper. 1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 200 Another essential part of the apparatus consists in flat tables whereon the plates of glass are cast. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 238 By turning the wheel, the table E is drawn between the cylinders, the counterpoise F rising accordingly. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 590 Whenever the melted glass is poured out, two men spread it over the table. 1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2477/2 The shaping-machine..has two tables for holding work both of which are movable up and down..and longitudinally. 1892[see table-loader in 22].
c. (See quot.)
1763Mills Pract. Husb. I. 332 M. Duhamel's drill is fastened to the fore-carriage of a common plough. The hind part consists of a plank..at least three inches thick, which is called the table.
d. In an organ: (a) The upper part of the sound-board, above the sound-board bars and grooves, perforated with holes for admitting air to the pipes. (In quot. 1852 applied to the sound-board bars.) (b) The upper board of the bellows.
1852Seidel Organ 52 These partitions are called grooves, and the ledges..by which they are separated, tables. 1881C. A. Edwards Organs 49 The top of the sound-board, technically called the table. 1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. vi. 72 Organ-bellows..consist of three main boards, namely, the middle board, the top board or table [etc.].
e. ‘The board or bar in a draw-loom to which the tails of the harness are attached’ (Knight, 1877).
f. Shipbuilding. = coak n. 1, q.v.
Cf. table v. 6, tabling vbl. n. 7.
g. plain table (surveying instrument): see plane-table.
18. a. The upper horizontal surface of a table diamond or a brilliant. b. Short for table diamond; also applied to other precious stones cut in a similar form.
1530Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, IV. No. 6789 (P.R.O.), iiij diamantes wherof ij poynted and ij tables. 1538Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl. VII. 14 Ane grete diamand sett in table for the quenis spousing ring. 1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3929/4 Two single Stone Diamond Rings, Tables. 1751D. Jeffries Treat. Diamonds (ed. 2) Explan. Techn. Terms, The Table is the large horizontal plane, or face, at the top of the Brilliant. 1861W. Pole in Macm. Mag. III. 184/2 The apex of the upper pyramid is cut off to a considerable extent, and the large facet thus formed is called the table. 190419th Cent. July 136 A necklace of carnelian, ‘cut in tables’, is deemed worthy of being handed down to posterity as an heirloom.
19. Perspective. A name for the perspective plane, or ‘plane of the picture’: see plane n.3 1 d. (Cf. sense 3.) ? Obs.
1727–41Chambers Cycl., Table, in perspective denotes a plain surface, supposed to be transparent, and perpendicular to the horizon. 1876in Gwilt Archit. Gloss.
20. = tabula 2.
1891in Cent. Dict.
III. attrib. and Comb.
21. a. Simple attrib.: in sense 5, ‘of a table’: as table-drawer, table-edge, table-head, table-leg; in sense 6, ‘of the dinner-table’: as table-companion, table-fellow (table-fellowship), table-friend, table-guest, table-jester, table-mate, table-parasite, table-patron, † table-peer (= -companion), table-servant, table-steward, table-waiter; ‘at or round the table’: as table argument, table collection, table conference, table conversation, table fellowship, table gratification, table philosophy; of implements, etc. used at table, as table cutlery, table decoration, table-fork, table-furniture, table-garnish, table mat, table runner; of articles of food or drink, consumed or adapted for consumption at table, as table ale, table beer, table bird, table cider, table dainty, table delicacy, table drink, table fish, table fruit, table-grape, table honey, table mustard, table potato, table salt; in sense 10: table look-up (look-up 2). b. Objective, etc., as table-jogging, table-serving, table-setting, etc.; table-thumping adj. and n.c. Having the form of a table; having a wide horizontal surface on which things may be placed, as table-cabinet, table-piano(forte), table-stage, etc.; table-formed, table-like adjs.
1547Salesbury Welsh Dict., Aílcwrwf, *table ale. 1848Dickens Dombey xviii, Mrs. Wickam..takes more table-ale than usual.
1632Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 100 It is hard I confesse to call in question for all that is spoaken at table; and yet this should not have been a *table argument.
1643in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iv. 435, 2 hogsheades of stronge beere, 1 hogshead of *table beere. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 207 Table-beer should have the characters of an ale, not of porter.
1884St. James' Gaz. 22 Aug. 4/2 The capercailzie..as a *table bird..will prove a disappointment.
1851Mantell Petrifact. iii. §1. 136 The floor [of a room in Brit. Mus.] being occupied by twenty-six *Table-cabinets.
1902Daily Chron. 17 May 6/4 There are many families who make it a habit to have a *table collection each week for some religious or philanthropic work.
1656Blount Glossogr., Commensal, a *Table-companion. 1861Thackeray Four Georges iv. (1876) 107 His next set of friends were mere table companions.
1712Addison Spect. No. 495 ⁋9 This shuts them out from all *Table Conversation.
1861Chicago Tribune 10 July 1/9 Crockery Ware, *Table Cutlery, Plated Ware, &c. 1946A. Christie Come, tell me how you Live vii. 116 Civilisation's invention of table cutlery presents a perpetual headache to a worried house-boy.
1802Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ld. Belgrave & Motions Wks. 1812 IV. 523 Every *table-dainty, flesh and fish.
1937C. Spry Flowers in House & Garden 169 Your choice of *table decorations is bound to be influenced by..your guests. 1979I. Webb Compl. Guide Flower & Foliage Arrangement vii. 97/2 ‘Frensham’ roses and ivy berries combine to make an arresting table decoration.
c1813Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. xvi. 137 To look in the *table-drawer, for a little book.
1817Lady Morgan France i. (1818) I. 65 The *table-drink of the poorest peasantry.
1935H. H. Bashford Lodgings for Twelve 87 George Gedge's Wiltshire guile and a miraculous succession of *table-edge strokes. 1977F. Ormsby Store of Candles 30 Resumes his beat from table-edge to door, From door to table.
1592G. Harvey Four Lett. Wks. (Grosart) I. 208 The *Table-fellow of Duke Humfrey, & Tantalus, might learne of him to curse Iupiter. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 356, I was meditating in what way this grisly featured table-fellow might..be accosted.
1903Hibbert Jrnl. Mar. 614 James's scruples about *table-fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Gal. ii. 12.
1770Boston Gaz. 15 Jan. 2/3 *Table fish warranted the very best, To be Sold at the Store the Corner of Kilby-Street. 1872F. F. Victor All over Oregon 63 Besides the salmon of commerce, the Columbia furnishes a great many other species of edible fish..all of which are excellent table-fish in their proper seasons. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 435/2 Pickerel were better table-fish.
1785Daily Universal Reg. 1 Jan. 3/2 Ivory *table knives and forks. 1842J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 110 The scones should be pricked with a table-fork or small pointed wooden pin.
a1843Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. (1849) IV. 408 The mountains are *table-formed.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 135 We must shun such parasites, who are but saluting and *table friends.
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 293 The Fig-apple is a good *Table-Fruit.
1861Our Eng. Home 11 The *table garnish was not very extensive, a few wooden platters, some knives and spoons..were the principal articles.
1926Zionist Rev. Apr. 144/2 Splendid prospects exist for good *table-grapes in those parts of Palestine where the Jewish urban population is growing. 1979Tucson Mag. Apr. 20/2 An attractive feature..is the possibility that vineyards will be a ‘dryland crop’, using considerably less water than table grapes.
1773W. Melmoth Remarks on Cato 229 (Jod.) A moderate indulgence..in the *table gratifications.
a1592Greene Jas. IV, Wks. (Rtldg.) 188/1, I found *table-guests to eat me and my meat.
1733Swift On Poetry 264 Battus from the *table-head,..Gives judgment with decisive air. 1865Kingsley Herew. xix, At the table-head..sat..the new Lord of Bourne.
1571Golding Calvin on Ps. xxxv. 16 Y⊇ *tablejesters, which gave their verdict of his death among the cups.
1891Pall Mall G. 29 Oct. 2/1 There was a certain amount of *table-jogging and spilling of liquors.
c1870Tennyson in Daily News 1 Mar. (1898) 7/5, I am convinced that God and the ghosts of men would choose something other than mere *table-legs through which to speak to the heart of man.
1957D. D. McCracken Digital Computer Programming xvii. 200 The code number is placed in one of the arithmetic registers and a *table look-up instruction given. 1967Cox & Grose Organization & Handling Bibl. Rec. by Computer vi. 142 These will be linked with ‘table-look-ups’ within the output programs to translate each symbol into a full form.
1779in Dict. Amer. Eng. (1938) s.v. Table n., *Table mat. 1834Dickens Bloomsbury Christening in Monthly Mag. Apr. 380 A front drawing-room, very prettily furnished with a plentiful sprinkling of little baskets, paper table-mats, [etc.]..on the different tables. 1965A. Nicol Truly Married Woman 5 She remembered the wine glasses and the beer-advertising table-mats in time and put those under the sofa.
1624Gataker Mariage Praier 19 [Woman] was..giuen to man, not to be a play-fellow, or a bed-fellow, or a *table-mate, onely with him,..but to be a yoake-fellow, a worke-fellow, a fellow-labourer with him.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIII. 192/1 Leaving a cake behind, fit for making the common *table-mustard.
1751Warburton in Pope's Wks. (1806) IV. 7 A detected Slanderer, a *Table-Parasite, a Church-Buffoon, and a Party-Writer.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 14, I knowe you are no *table patrones.
1605Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. Law 843 God's pensioner, and Angel's *Table-peer, O Israel!
1576R. Johnes (title) The Schoolemaster; or Teacher of *Table Philosophie. 1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 34 It is another Table-Philosophy, that I fansie.
1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 27 Apr. 11/7 The hotel furniture consists of..blankets, sheets, spreads, pillows, toilet sets in 60 rooms, 1 *table piano, card tables, [etc.]. 1952J. Gloag Short Dict. Furniture 468 Table pianos were designed to conceal the fact that they were musical instruments: when closed they looked like clumsy and ill-proportioned tables. 1976Early Music Oct. 483/1, I find the choice of cover picture oddly revealing: a small table-piano ordered by an aristocrat for his children.
1851Official Catal., Gt. Exhib. III. 1225/1 Patent square and console pianofortes; square and hexagonal *table pianofortes.
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 200 The produce of the *table potatoe crop seldom falls short of 350 bushels.
1889*Table runner [see runner 14 c]. 1939W. Fortescue There's Rosemary xliv. 259, I cut lengths of brocatello, designed cushions and table-runners, &c. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iii. 63 Small mats, table runners, Radio Times covers are quite unnecessary.
1878Gurney Crystallogr. 84 Common *table salt crystallises in this form.
1882Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 163 He had appointed himself *table servant.
1907Philippine Education Sept. 46/1 We had a few lessons in *table-setting.
1867J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 88 Below the *table-stage is the secondary or sub-stage.
1963Time 2 Aug. 17/2 The changeover from Stalin, the ‘oriental despot’, to Khruschev, the *table-thumping but jolly politician. 1964A. Battersby Network Analysis ix. 137 The Esso team..do claim with confidence that resources are utilized more effectively than before,..and that, in general, there is less table-thumping.
1928D. H. Lawrence Woman who rode Away 15 The sister was all that could be desired as..an upper parlour-maid, and a *table-waiter. 1975Budget (Sugarcreek, Ohio) 20 Mar. 1/4 Tablewaiters were David F. Yoder, Susie Bontreger, [etc.].
d. Designed to stand on a table, as table lamp, table lighter, table model, table stand.
c1849J. S. Coyne How to settle Accts. with your Laundress 3 Table at back, L., on which is a table lamp. 1854C. M. Yonge Heartsease I. ii. i. 102 A pretty little rosewood work-table, on which was..a table-stand of books. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 1150/3 Folding Music Stands... Table stand... Brass 7/6. 1922A. Bennett Lilian ii. vii. 119 It was the silver table-lamps..that impressed her. 1929Radio Times 8 Nov. 437/1 The table model Columbia is..the most advanced radio of the day. 1951Catal. Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 147/2 Shagreen table lighter. 1954‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom i. vii. 99 Applying his cigar to a massive table-lighter. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio i. 30 There are four types of microphone mounting. These are: (i) The table stand, [etc.]. 1967P. Chambers Bad die Young i. 11 A grateful client had given me a heavy bronze table lighter. 1976‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth iii. 60 Only a table-lamp burned, its weak bulb not up to the task of fully illuminating the room. 1977D. E. Westlake Nobody's Perfect 10 He'd cased that TV repair shop—he'd even brought in a perfectly good Sony table model and let them charge him for six new tubes.
e. Designating various games played on a table, which simulate more or less closely the action of some sport, as table football, table hockey, etc. See also table-game, -tennis, sense 22 below.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 1032/2 Wibley Wob or Table Football. A game for 2 or 4 players, to be placed upon an ordinary dining table. 1948Sporting Mirror 21 May 10/3 (Advt.), Send 3d. stamp for full details of Subbuteo the game of Table Soccer... Played with 22 miniature men, ball and goals. 1949S. F. Collis (title) Proper channels for the distribution of ‘table hockey’. 1956H. & L. Eizenberg Omnibus of Fun xvii. 343 Table Hockey. This ping-pong blow game can have four teams on rectangular table. 1976Deakin & Willis Johnny go Home i. 27 The biggest amusement arcade he had ever seen..the metropolitan mecca of pinball and table football.
22. Special Combs.: table-allowance, an allowance of money for provisions (= table money (a)); table-almanac, an almanac on a single sheet or card; table-anvil, ‘a small anvil adapted to be screwed to a table for bending plates of metal or wires, making small repairs, etc.’ (Knight 1877); † table balas: see balas, and cf. table diamond, ruby; table-bat [bat n.2 11], ? a horizontal stratum of ‘bat’ or shale in a bed of coal; table bed: see quot. 1773; table bell, a small hand-bell placed upon the table for summoning attendants; table-bit: see quot.; table carpet, a woollen table-cloth (see carpet n. 1); also, a decorative table-cloth of other material (now Hist.); table-centre, a piece of embroidery, decorated work, etc., for the centre of a table, placed over the table-cloth; table centrepiece, a decorative piece placed at the centre of a table, esp. one arrayed with flowers, etc.; table-chair = chair table s.v. chair n.1 15; table-churn, a churn placed upon a table; table-clamp, a clamp for fastening something to a table; table-clock, a clock that is or may be placed on a table; table-couch, a couch for reclining on a table; table-counter, a counter of the form of a table; table cover, a cloth of wool or other fabric used for covering a table permanently or when not in use for meals (= table-cloth b); † table-coverer, an attendant who ‘covered’ the table, i.e. laid the cloth, etc. for a meal (see cover v.1 2 d); table-crumb, a crumb that falls from the table at a meal; table-decker = table-coverer, esp. in the Royal Household (now rare); table desk, (a) a desk with a broad, flat top; (b) a kind of folding writing-box that opens to provide a sloping desk-top, for use on a table; table-discourse, discourse at table, table-talk; table-faced a. = table-cut (see sense 18); table-flap, a hinged flap or ‘leaf’ at the end or side of a table, which can be raised so as to extend the surface; table game, a game played on a table or similar surface, usu. with balls, counters, or other pieces (and sometimes distinguished from card- or board-games); † table-gesture [gesture n. 2] , posture or attitude at table, i.e. at a meal; table-glass, (a) glass made in ‘tables’ (see 15 b), crown-glass; (b) a glass (drinking-vessel) for use at table; † table-gospeller, one who makes table-talk of the gospel; one whose religion is mere talk; table-grinder, ‘a form of grinding-bench’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); table-ground, flat elevated ground (cf. table-land); table hand, (a) N.Z. Sheep-shearing: in a wool-shed, one who helps the fleece-picker to skirt and roll the fleeces; (b) Printing, a bindery assistant; table-hop v. intr. U.S. colloq., to go from table to table in a restaurant, meeting the diners (cf. island-hop s.v. island n. 4); also table-hopping vbl. n.; table jelly, a flavoured jelly served at table as a sweet; a commercial preparation for making this; table-knife, a knife used at table, esp. one of the shape or size used in cutting the meat small; table-knight, a knight who sits at some one's table, spec. at the Round Table; table-lathe, a small lathe clamped to a table when in use; table-leaf [leaf n. 12 c], (a) = table-flap; (b) any additional piece which can be inserted so as to extend the surface of a table; also attrib. table-leaf joint, the form of joint, with one part convex and the other concave, used in a hinged table-leaf; table-lifting, the lifting of a table by supposed spiritual agency (cf. table-turning); table-line, in Palmistry, a line running from beneath the little finger to the base of the index-finger, forming the upper boundary of the ‘table’; table-linen, linen for use at table, as table-cloths and table-napkins; table-loader, one who loads the hoist-table of a lift; table-maid, a domestic servant who lays the table and waits at meals; table-maker, a joiner who makes tables; table manners n. pl. orig. U.S., behaviour or deportment at table, judged according to accepted standards of propriety; table-matter (Printing) = table-work; table-money, (a) an extra allowance of money made to the higher officers in the British army and navy for table expenses; (b) a charge made in some clubs for the use of the dining-room; also, an extra charge in some restaurants or on board ship; † table-monument, a monument consisting of a ‘table’ (sense 2 a); a monumental tablet; tablemount Oceanogr. = guyot; table-mountain, a flat-topped mountain; spec. the name of the mountain which rises behind Cape Town; table-moving, the moving of a table by supposed spiritual agency (cf. table-turning); table-music, music in parts, so printed (as in some early books of madrigals, etc.) that the performers, sitting at opposite sides of a table, can read their respective parts from the same page or opening; table-napery = table-linen; table napkin, a napkin used at meals to protect the clothes from being soiled, to wipe the fingers, etc.; Table Office: in the House of Commons, the office in which the civil servants work whose duties include the preparation of the Notice Paper and the Order Book; by extension, the Office personified by its clerks; table officer Canad., any of the principal officers in an organization (cf. board n. 8); table-pew, a large pew containing the communion-table, as formerly usual in some Presbyterian and other churches; † table-picture, a picture painted on a ‘table’ (sense 3); table-plain, an elevated plain, a table-land; table-plan, a seating plan for those attending a formal meal; table-plane, a plane for making rule-joints in table-flaps, etc.; table-plank, a plank serving as a table when placed upon supports; cf. 6 b; table-plate, (a) articles of plate (plate n. 16), for use at meals; (b) a plate (usually of earthenware) from which food is eaten at table; (c) a flat metal plate on which pulverized gold or silver ore is treated with mercury in the process of amalgamation; † table-play, play at ‘tables’ or backgammon; so † table-player, † tables-playing; table-prayers, a name for the communion service, or a part of it, read at the communion-table, but without administration; † table-rent: see quot.; table rock, a flat-topped rock; † table-room, room or place at table, i.e. at meals; board; table-saw, a small saw fitted to a table and worked by a treadle; table-screen, (a) a trestle table in a wool-shed; (b) Chinese Ceramics (see quot. 1974); table-service, (a) the Communion service (in Presbyterian churches); (b) service or attendance at table; (c) a set of utensils for the table, as a dinner-service; table-setting, (a) the activity of setting a table: see sense 21 b; (b) the cutlery, napery, etc., required to set a place at table; table-shore Naut., a low level shore; table-sod, in hedging, one of the sods forming the ‘table’ (sense 13 c); table-song, (a) Gr. Antiq., a song sung by the guests at a banquet in turn; (b) a part-song such as is sung in a German liedertafel or choral society (Cent. Dict.); table-spar, a name for wollastonite, also called tabular spar, occurring in ‘tables’ or flat crystals; table-sport, sport or play at table; in quot., an object of sport or mockery at table, the butt or laughing-stock of a company; table stake Poker (see quot. 1885); table tape Computers, a magnetic tape containing tabulated numerical information for use in computations; table-tapping = table-rapping; table-tennis, a game resembling lawn-tennis, played upon a table: = ping-pong; table-tilting, -tipping, the tilting or tipping of a table by supposed spiritual agency (cf. table-turning); so table-tipper, one who practises table-tipping; table-tomb, a tomb in the Roman catacombs containing a burial-chest with a flat cover; any tomb in some way resembling a table; table-top, (a) the upper surface of a table; (b) a flat top of a hill, rock, etc.; see also table-top a.; table-topped |-tɒpt| a., having a flat top like that of a table; table-tree, an adjustable table-like rest mounted on a lathe; table-turf = table-sod; table-vessel, a vessel for use at table; † such vessels collectively (obs.); table-water, water (esp. a mineral water) suitable for drinking at table; table-wheel: see quot.; table wine, wine suitable for drinking with a meal, esp. plain wine which is not fortified or sparkling; a wine of this class; cf. Tafelwein, vin de table s.v. vin 3; table-work (Printing), the setting up of tables (sense 10), or of matter between column rules; concr. printed matter of this kind, as distinguished from ordinary letterpress. See also table-board, -book, -cloth, etc.
1810Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) V. 598, I beg that you will draw a *table allowance of thirty shillings a day.
1621Stationers' Register (Arb.) IV. 11 *Table almanacke on a sheet of paper.
1530Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, IV. No. 6789 (P.R.O.) A goodly carkeyn with a fayr *table balasse.
1712F. Bellers in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 542 The *Table-Bat, next under the Rubble Iron-Stone.
1714E. Postlethwayt Let. 5 Mar. in E. Pyle Mem. Royal Chaplain (1905) 33 Pray take care of putting up the *Table Bed, put nothing in but what belongs to it. 1773Johnson, Tablebed, a bed of the figure of a table.
1779in Dict. Amer. Eng. (1938), *Table bell. 1832Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. I. 236/2 This minikin table-bell, which I must have unconsciously pocketed. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Table-bell, a small hand-bell for summoning domestics or office attendants.
1843Holtzapffel Turning II. xxiv. 539 The spoon-bit..the *table-bit, for making the holes for the wooden joints of tables, [is] of this kind.
1715J. Chappelow Rt. Way Rich (1717) 144 *Table-carpets or bed-coverlets. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iii. 74 Great families worked their own table carpets in tent stitch on canvas sometimes incorporating their coats of arms into the design.
1901Lady's Realm X. 616 This white satin *table-centre is decorated with ribbon, lace, braid, and embroidery. 1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 882 *Table centre pieces and vases. Finest English hand-made cut crystal. 1979E. Taylor in I. Webb Compl. Guide Flower & Foliage Arrangement viii. 104/3 The table centre-piece holds Norway spruce, variegated holly and berries, pine cones and red ribbons.
1671in Farm & Cottage Inventories of Mid-Essex 1635–1749 (1950) (Essex Record Office Publ. No. 8) 120 In The Hall—..one *Table-chaire. 1836S. S. Arnold in Proc. Vermont Hist. Soc. (1940) VIII. 125 Father gave me his old table-chair. 1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed v. 35 Shabby men and women sat in white table-chairs.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm III. 906 For this purpose, there is perhaps none better than the *Table-churn.
1774Chron. in Ann. Reg. 121/1 A *table-clock, a silver spoon, and a silk gown.
1877C. Geikie Christ lviii. (1879) 704 Lazarus reclined with him on the *table-couch.
1667in Pettus Fodinæ Reg. (1670) 36 One *Table-counter with Cupboards, Shelves, etc.
1848C. H. Hartshorne Eng. Med. Embroidery 126 The manner commonly used in braiding *table covers. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 388 Sellers of Japanned table-covers... The glazed table-covers. 1864Webster, Table-cover, a cloth for covering a table, especially at other than meal-times.
1737J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. (ed. 33) ii. iii. 220 *Table-Coverer to the Chaplains.
1726–46Thomson Winter 255 Till, more familiar grown, the *table-crums Attract his [the redbreast's] slender feet. 1804J. Grahame Sabbath (1808) 34 Where little birds..Light on the floor, and peck the table-crumbs.
1737J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. (ed. 33) ii. iii. 228 *Table-Deckers. 1843Macaulay Ess., Mme. d'Arblay (1887) 755 The whole Palace from Gold Stick in Waiting down to the Table-Deckers. 1983Daily Express 18 Oct. 22/2 Specially trained ‘table-deckers’ set the places at State banquets.
1904M. Corelli God's Good Man 503 Placed below this, and slightly towards the centre of the room, was the Bishop's *table-desk and chair. 1933‘A. Armstrong’ Ten-Minute Alibi i. 9 Right centre is a flat table-desk with two drawers. 1933Burlington Mag. June p. xviii/2 The acquisition from the funds of the Murray Bequest of the table-desk associated with Henry VIII. 1965J. A. Michener Source 799 Gottesmann was surprised, therefore, when this frail child slammed shut the folding table-desk used by the Palmach as its headquarters.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Table, *Table-discourse is an excellent Schoole⁓maister. 1659Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 395 It is their table discourse that we shall be ruined.
1877W. Jones Finger-ring 366 The other ring is also of gold, with a square *table-faced diamond.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Table-flap, the leaf of a folding-table.
1864Amer. Boy's Bk. Sports & Games 455 (heading) *Table and toy games. 1905W. Fiske Chess in Iceland 357 We have, as stated, confined ourselves wholly to table-games, that is those which are played on a board or other surface, on which some peculiar design is drawn. 1976E. Ward Hanged Man xxviii. 180 Burnett..felt helplessness, a toy rabbit running on the magnetized tracks of a table game made for children.
1641Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. 8 They, using the liberty of that power, had appointed sitting or standing, rather than kneeling, as judging either of them a more proper *table gesture than it. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 241 Many..(though they concede a table-gesture) will hardly allow this usuall way of Session.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Glass, The same for window, or *table glass, as for round glass. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 208 White flint, or English crystal, generally used for table-glasses.
1610Boys Wks. (1630) 374 O that the *table-gospellers of our time..would consider aright this terrible judgement.
1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 157/1, I had the satisfaction to discover the spoor of three bucks on a piece of rocky *table-ground on the highest summit of the range.
1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 311/2 Pressing the fleece wool with all the skirtings, bellies, stains, [etc.]..still adhering..costs the farmer far more..than if he had hired one or two *table hands at shearing to skirt his fleece wool for him. 1955G. Bowen Wool Away! vii. 92 A common fault is for a wool-table to be too high, which makes harder work for the table hands and the ‘fleeco’. 1972Classification of Occupations (Dept. Employment) III. 172/2 Bindery assistant. Performs, by hand or machine, folding, gathering, collating and/or sewing tasks in binding books, periodicals or stationery and assists bookbinders... Other titles include..Table hand. 1979West Lancs. Even. Gaz. 12 Oct. 24 (Advt.), Fully experienced tablehand (SOGAT) required in our Bindery.
1958Time 6 Oct. 16/1 He *table-hopped to shake hands. 1977Time 28 Mar. 28/2 In Charleston, he table-hopped through the cafeteria at the West Virginia State Capitol.
1967N.Y. Times Mag. 20 Aug. 33 The writers' club..is a place for gossip, banter, flirtation, shoptalk, confidences and compulsive *table-hopping.
1895Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 16 *Table jelly powder. 1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 1224/2 Table jellies (Spring's). 1975in T. Steel Life & Death of St Kilda (1977) xi. 176 She had a few table jellies left.
c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 334 in Babees Bk., Take a loofe of trenchurs in þy lifft hande, þan take þy *table knyfe. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 282 To work..at his business, as a table-knife cutler. c1865G. Gore in Circ. Sc. I. 235/2 This tendency is sometimes manifested in depositing silver upon table-knives and forks.
1675J. Smith Chr. Relig. App. i. 18 In his erecting of that strange Order of *Table-Knights,..instituted..in contempt of Apollo. 1871Tennyson Last Tourn. 69 Some hold he was a table-knight of thine..the Red Knight, he.
1883Proc. Soc. Psych. Research I. 248 He would have really ‘exploded the whole nonsense’ of *table-lifting.
c1460*Tabyl lyne [see sense 14 above]. 1611Cotgr., Mensale, the Table-line in the hand; (a tearme of Palmistrie). 1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 45 He that hath the Table-line broad and well-coloured he is jocund and couragious.
1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1500/4 A large black Trunk filled with Diaper-*Table-Linnen and Sheets. 1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xxvi, Continuing her inspection of the table-linen.
1892Labour Commission Gloss., *Table-loaders, synonymous with ‘lift-loaders’.
1862J. Binny in H. Mayhew London Labour Extra vol. 355/2 *Table-maids in aristocratic families or at first-class hotels. 1895Cath. News 16 Nov. 2 She had been tablemaid to a clergyman.
c1515Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 10 *Table makers, sylke dyers, and shepsters.
1867Harper's Mag. Sept. 470/1 That upright position which belongs no less to *table-manners than to hygiene. 1904Daily Chron. 28 July 4/7 What the Americans would call his ‘table-manners’. 1949M. Mead Male & Female ix. 187 In cultures where table-manners are the insignia of humanity people may be unable to eat their food at the table with some one who eats differently.
1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 283 *Table-matter is generally braced in, when it wants driving out in width.
1835J. E. Alexander Sketches in Portugal vi. 148 A contract was entered into with them.., that they should receive British pay and *table-money during the continuance of the war. 1842G. Parbury Hand Bk. for India & Egypt (ed. 2) 383 Table money, say 25 days, at 3 rupees per diem. 1866Cornh. Mag. Oct. 467 The old screw..saves half his table-money, and gives you stuff to drink only fit to send down the scuppers. 1901Daily News 13 Dec. 7/1 In the lower-priced restaurants it is called ‘table money’, and in the higher-priced ones placed under the captivating heading of couvert.
1761Biogr. Dict. IV. 200 A handsome *table monument of blue marble was raised over his [Drayton's] grave.
1952Procès-Verbaux Assoc. d'Oceanogr. Physique v. 71 The term guyot seems unnecessary in view of the more satisfactory term *table mount. 1959Tablemount [see guyot].
1791Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 16/2 On approaching the Cape, a very remarkable eminence may..be discovered..called the *Table-mountain from its appearance. 1822G. Young Geol. Surv. Yorks. Coast (1828) 67 Extensive flats, nearly level, as in what are called Table mountains. 1886A. Winchell Walks Geol. Field 95 When the erosion cuts the lava-sheet along parallel lines, it gives rise to the forms known as ‘table-mountains’.
1853Ann. Reg. 66 The faith in question is termed ‘*Table-moving’. 1862B. Taylor Home & Abr. Ser. ii. vii. 442 Circles began to be formed in my native town, for the purpose of table-moving.
1875Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, *Table music, compositions intended to be sung by several persons sitting at a table.
1859Mrs. Gaskell Round the Sofa 331 Some fine yarn she was having spun for *table-napery.
1564Will J. Smyth (2 Morrison & Crimes, Somerset Ho.), A fine *table napkin with blewe clowdes. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. IV, Wks. (1711) 74 Girded about him with a towel or table-napkin, of a comely and reverend aspect. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxviii, A handful of soft moss served the purposes of a table-napkin. 1882Caulfield & Saward Dict. Needlework 468/1 Tablecloths, table napkins, tray ditto [etc.]. 1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 1448/3, 1 doz. Table Napkins {pstlg}1 7s. 6d. 1938John o' London's Weekly 18 Mar. 991/3 To plant palm trees and pampas grass on the Devon hills is like calling a table napkin in an Englishman's dining-room a serviette. 1970–1Kay's Catal. Autumn–Winter 585 White cotton tablecloth... Matching table napkins available.
19462nd Rep. Sel. Comm. on Procedure p. iv, in Parl. Papers 1945–46 IX. 161 Questions received at the *Table Office before the hour of sitting of the House shall be deemed to have been received the day before. 1950Erskine May's Law of Parl. (ed. 15) xii. 243 The Table Office assists the Clerks at the Table particularly in the preparation of the Notice Paper and the Order Book. 1973Times 15 May 7/2 The table office at the House refused, after taking advice, to accept the questions.
1968Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Nov. 1/6 John Laxton..confirmed that a..meeting of the caucus of MLA's and the provincial *table officers..had agreed on the convention date. 1973Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 Sept. 8/5 He's been involved in some of the most complex bargaining in that field..and was one of the table officers when construction workers two years ago rejected a back-to-work order.
1897Spurgeon Autobiog. iv. 26 In front of the pulpit, was the *table-pew, wherein sat the elders of the congregation.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God ii. (1620) 7 Gazing upon a *table picture.
1835Willis Pencillings I. xxiii. 166 A graceful slope..swells up to a broad *table-plain on the mountain.
1911W. J. Locke Glory of Clementina Wing xxiii. 345 Quixtus at the end of the table... Clementina had thus arranged the *table-plan. 1948G. V. Galwey Lift & Drop v. 93 Dance was..fretting over..the way his table plan had been upset. 1982K. Follett Man from St. Petersburg xiv. 252 She sent for Pritchard and made the table plan with him.
1626in Mem. Fountains (Surtees) 365 One bed of wainscott..and also three *table plankes.
1669W. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 446 The Queen's *table plate. 1705tr. Bosman's Guinea 272 As broad as a common Table-Plate. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 329 Amalgamation in batteries, on table-plates, in pans, and on a second set of table-plates on a floor below.
1550Crowley Last Trump. 490 Thy tauerne gate, and *table playe, thy cardes, thy dyce. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 317 Plato compared our life to table-play. 1631R. Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 152 Let no Table-play carry away the mind.
c1450Medulla (Cath. Angl. 376), Aliator, a *tabyl pleyare. 1631Celestina i. 15 Your Table-players, and other Gamesters never lose, but they peale foorth her prayses.
1577J. Northbrooke Dicing (1579) 55 *Table playing and Chesse playing may be vsed of any men moderately.
1862Union 11 Apr., Anything more dreary than ‘*Table prayers’ at eleven o'clock we cannot conceive.
1701Cowell's Interpr., *Table-Rents, Redditus ad mensam, rents paid to Bishops or Religious Prelates, reserv'd or appropriated to their Table or House-keeping.
1817in Minnesota Hist. Soc. Coll. (1860) II. 36 The mode I adopted to ascertain the height of the cataract, was to suspend a line and plummet from the *table rock on the south side of the river. 1853Mrs. Moodie Life in Clearings 365 The fall of that large portion of the table-rock has made the alteration.
1607Tourneur Rev. Trag. iv. ii, For *table-roome, I feed on those that cannot be rid of me.
1881A. C. Grant Bush Life Queensl. I. vii. 85 The fleece, gathered carefully with both hands is conveyed to a long *table-screen. 1971Country Life 10 June 1425/3 Several table screens are on view. A rare example..is made of turquoise matrix carved with an eastern scene. 1972Trans. Oriental Ceramic Soc. XXXVIII. 112 Table screen painted in blue... Chêng-tê period, 1506–21. 1974Savage & Newman Illustr. Dict. Ceramics 282 Table-screen, a small rectangular porcelain plaque or tile, usually decorated on both sides, mounted vertically on a stand, and intended to be placed on the scholar's table, probably to protect his work from unwanted sunlight.
1765J. Wedgwood Let. 25 July (1965) 36 Your Brother Josiah's Pottworks were the subject of conversation for some time, the Cream colour *Table services in particular. 1823Chalmers in Hanna Mem. (1849) II. xv. 395 She allowed me..to continue the table-service in the way I had found to be most convenient. 1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 99 In table-service his attendance was impartial. 1885List of Subscribers, Classified (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 229 (Advt.), Crystal and Demi-Crystal Table Services and Ornaments. 1891Cent. Dict. s.v. Service1, Table-service, a set of utensils for the table. 1896Daily News 6 Apr. 2/5 The President..handed to him the handsome table service which he had given to be run for.
1955House & Garden June 74/2 Table mats are a most practical form of *table setting. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iii. 66 A tablecloth designed with the table setting in mind will enhance the general effect rather than confuse it.
1864Webster, *Table-shore, Naut., a low, level shore. 1871Tennyson Last Tourn. 461 As the crest of some slow-arching wave, Heard in dead night along that table-shore, Drops flat.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 575 The assistant throws the parings of the sides and bottom of the ditch upon the hedge-bank, immediately behind the *table-sod.
1847Grote Greece ii. xxix. IV. 109 [Archilochus] was the earliest popular and successful composer of *table-songs or Skolia.
1836Brande Chem. (ed. 4) 860 There are some minerals, and among them *table-spar or Wollastonite..which are silicates of lime.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 169 Let me for euer be your *Table-sport.
1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 283/1 The modern usage is to play *table stakes; i.e., each player puts up such an amount as he pleases at the commencement of each deal, and he cannot be raised more than he has on the table; but he has the option of making good from his pocket a previous raise which exceeds his table stake. 1973T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow i. 7 Routine: plug in American blending machine won from Yank last summer, some poker game, table stakes, B.O.Q. somewhere in the north.
1948*Table tape [see problem tape s.v. problem 7]. 1956G. A. Montgomerie Digital Calculating Machines x. 213 Numbers may also be taken from the table tapes as required.
1854J. G. MacWalter (title) The Modern Mystery of *Table-Tapping.
1887in 75 Years of Fun (Parker Bros., Inc.) (1958) 19 *Table Tennis... This game is laid out like a lawn tennis court, played and counted just the same, all the rules being observed. 1901Daily Chron. 16 Dec. 8/2 The table tennis or ‘ping-pong’ tournament..concluded on Saturday night at the Royal Aquarium. 1977World Book Encycl. XIX. 4/2 A British firm manufactured table tennis equipment and registered the name Ping-Pong in England in 1900 and in America in 1901. Soon afterward it sold the American rights to Parker Brothers of Salem, Massachusetts. The monopoly of the game by these two companies and their dictation of rules and equipment led to a revolt by internationally organized players in 1921. As a result, the unpatented name Table Tennis was adopted.
1903Westm. Gaz. 2 Mar. 7/1 We tried spiritualism..first by *table-tilting.
1865Lowell Lett. I. 386, I translate by direct inspiration of a scholiast turned *table-tipper.
1855Smedley, etc. Occult Sc. 201 If the *table-tipping be made to answer as a code of signals.
1876E. Venables in Encycl. Brit. V. 209/2 In the *table-tomb the recess above, essential for the introduction of the corpse, is square, while in the arcosolium, a form of later date, it is semi-circular.
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 293 He reached and ascended the *table top of Haldon. 1886A. Winchell Walks Geol. Field 95 It..projects like a table-top beyond the gravel.
1834Ld. Houghton Mem. Many Scenes, Tempe Introd. (1844) 35 A line of rugged crags, peaked or *table-topped. 1897Daily News 3 May 7/4 A..valley lying between high, sharply scarped table-topped hills.
1853O. Byrne Artisan's Handbk. 63 A miniature lathe-head mounted on a wooden *table-tree.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 119 Care being taken..to raise the ground where they are placed with two or three *table turfs.
1594Plat Jewell-ho. 14 One masse, whereof they make our drinking Glasses, and all sortes of *Table-vessell.
1895Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 5/2 The Rosbach *table-water, a fresh sparkling table-water.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 57 *Table-wheel, to lay ropes, from a six-thread rat⁓line to a two-inch and half rope, is fixed in the wheel-house.
1673J. Ray Observations Journey Low-Countries 340 The red Florence wine is most commended for a *table wine of any in Italy. 1827Disraeli Viv. Grey III. v. iv. 73 Very fair table-wine, I think. 1978J. Symons Blackheath Poisonings i. 40 Roger poured a red table wine that had been decanted.
1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 272 Divisions are used instead of rules, in *Table-work of narrow Columns. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxi. (ed. 3) 207 Work with irregular lines and many figures, and what the printers call rules,..is called table-work. 1879[see tabular 2 c].
Add:[III.] [22.] tablescape, a decorative arrangement of ornaments or other objects on a table-top; hence ˈtablescaping n.
1968D. Hicks On Living— with Taste ix. 74/1 ‘*Tablescapes’ and ‘chimneyscapes’ are how I refer to arrangements of objects, plants, flowers, sculpture, porcelain, candlesticks, etcetera on table tops and chimneypieces. 1981Christian Science Monitor 22 Oct. 15/3 Mrs. Walter Hoving..featured a tablescape of crystal obelisks, cones, and cubes of many sizes, intermixed with white candles of varied heights rising out of low holders. 1988Chicago Tribune 14 Feb. xv. 15/1 In January, to keep up with this new spirit of what one magazine calls ‘*tablescaping’, the first International Tabletop Awards contest was held in Dallas.
▸ table dance n. orig. N. Amer. an erotic dance or striptease performed on or at a table, esp. the table of a paying customer in a strip club, etc.; cf. lap dance n. at lap n.1 Additions.
1912Charleroi (Pa.) Mail 13 June 1/3 [The people of Homestead, Pennsylvania, are] determined to not have a reputation of ‘Little Egypt’ *table dances such as sensationalized Kittanning a few weeks ago... They learned that these awful men folks had induced ‘Little Egypt’ [sc. a female dancer], to perform on a table and pose, wearing nothing but her birthday suit and a pleasant expression. 1957Metronome Aug. 7/1 During Tijuana Table-Dance..Isabel Morel was brought onto the stage to dance an improvised Flamenco with the band. 1962C. Mingus Tijuana Moods (record sleeve-notes) Ysabel's Table dance includes the far-out striptease—spots in the music..[to] represent the scantily clad woman spinning from table to table, reaching out her hand for tips. 1983Washington Post (Nexis) 5 Jan. c2 According to court records, Cox said Matson was, ‘buying all the patrons of the club drinks, paying numerous girls for table dances, handing girls in the club $100 bills, insisting on having seven to nine girls sit with him’. 2001Northern Echo (Electronic ed.) 12 Nov. A three-minute table dance costs {pstlg}10 and in London, the girls can earn between {pstlg}500 and {pstlg}700 a night.
▸ table dancer n. orig. N. Amer. (a) a person who dances on a table; (b) a performer of erotic table dances (usually a woman); cf. lap dancer n. at lap n.1 Additions.
1908Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 5 Jan. iii. 9/1 The other *table dancer came into the light out of West Oakland some years ago... She is petite, graceful and an exceptionally good dancer. So her table flights were watched with great interest. 1957New Yorker 3 Aug. 58/3 The Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop..worked their way..through..a blues played simultaneously in two keys; ‘Tia Juana Table Dancer’. 1985Maclean's 28 Jan. 23, I can sit in my car in Holstein and close my eyes and be in the middle of the smoke-filled haze of the Zanzibar Tavern in Toronto—with table dancers shining like jewels in the corners of the room. 2002Mirror (Electronic ed.) 19 Jan. To many people it might seem odd I'm a table dancer as my family have always had money and been very respectable, but I honestly really enjoy it.
▸ table dancing n. (a) the action or practice of dancing on a table; (b) orig. N. Amer., the action or practice of performing an erotic dance or striptease on or at the table of a paying customer in a strip club, etc.; cf. lap dancing n. at lap n.1 Additions.
1942Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 12 Nov. c17/5 Some exciting *table dancing by another Negro unit called ‘Tip, Tap and Toe’. 1986U.S. News & World Rep. (Nexis) 29 Dec. 5 Several charities in Detroit..refused to accept $24,000 because it came mostly from tips and table-dancing fees earned by the good ladies at Jason's strip club. 1988N. Bissoondath Casual Brutality (1989) xi. 235 The Riviera Nightclub and tavern [was] offering Girls!Girls!Girls! and table dancing for five dollars. 1997Independent 30 July ii. 8/1 Secrets is, according to its own publicity, ‘the only venue in central London to provide fully nude table dancing’.
▸ to bring (something) to the table: to contribute (something worthwhile, useful, or valuable) to a discussion, project, etc.
1914Times 20 Mar. 15/5 Reece can do exquisitely delicate things and bring to the table a virtuosity which words cannot overpraise. 1967Valley Independent (Monessen, Pa.) 13 Nov. 4/1 The major attribute some of the victors in Tuesday's voting will bring to the table is mastery of the art of getting re-elected. 1978Business Week (Nexis) 2 Oct. 106 We're not going to get Weyerhaeuser away from Morgan Stanley,..but for smaller companies we can really bring something to the table. 1993D. Irvin Behind Bench xix. 319 You have assistant coaches, and what do they bring to the table? They're sounding boards for disgruntled players. 2002N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 10 Feb. 7/1 Sheppard brought to the table not only an agile intelligence..but athleticism and physical courage.
▪ II. table, v.
[f. table n. In some senses representing F. tabler (1544 in Godef.) or med.L. tabulāre (Du Cange).]
1. trans. To enter in a table or list; to tabulate (now rare); † to appoint (a person) to some duty by entering his name in a table or list (obs.).
c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 324 The secunde and thryd antemes and matens schal be bygon of them that be tabled unto them. 1550Rec. Elgin (New Spald. Cl.) I. 105 That the baillies..tabill certane honest men for gadering of Sanct Gelis lycht. 1611Shakes. Cymb. i. iv. 6 Though the Catalogue of his endowments had bin tabled by his side. c1630Sir T. Hope Minor Practicks (1726) 5 There can be no Protestation granted upon the Copy, till the Copy be tabled. 1838[implied in tabling vbl. n. 1].
2. a. To entertain at table as a guest, or for payment; to provide with meals, or gen. with food; = board v. 8. Now rare.
1457–8Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 297 Every of the Baylyfys to tabyll one of them. 1553in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 414 Every Maior..shall tabull and vittaill towe massons or carpinders in his own housse. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 75 They haue..ten pound a yeere..and table themselues also of the same. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. ii. 166 He entertained the Freers and tabled them at his owne charge. 1715F. Brokesby Life Dodwell 306 Mr. Cherry..procured a Place for him where he might be tabled. 1903Westm. Gaz. 12 Sept. 8/1 At ten o'clock the establishment is closed, after having often tabled between four and five hundred persons.
b. intr. (for refl.) To have a meal, to dine; to take one's meals habitually (at a specified place or with a specified person); = board v. 9. Now rare or Obs.
1562Child Marr. 139 He came to Schole to Northerden,..and tablid at Withinshawe, with James Barlowe. 1602Rowlands Greene's Ghost 14 Comming to Ordinaries about the Exchange where Merchants do table for the most part. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1810) IV. lvi. 370 O that,..as she boarded there, she had oftener tabled with them! 1857J. Raine Life J. Hodgson I. 14 It seems to be pretty clear that Hodgson had tabled with this talkative but hearty man.
3. trans.
a. To picture, depict, represent as in a picture: cf. table n. 3. Obs. (or rare arch.)
1607–8Bacon Let. to Matthew in Spedding Life & Lett. (1868) IV. 10 This last Powder Treason, fit to be tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation, as another hell above the ground. 1852Bailey Festus (ed. 5) xx. 326 That we, in the dark chamber of the heart,..see the world tabled to us.
b. To fix as on a tablet. rare—1.
1852Bailey Festus (ed. 5) xxxi. 530 Thine the stars Tabled upon Thy bosom like the stones Oracular of light, on the priest's breast.
4. To place or lay upon a table.
a. To lay (an appeal, proposal, resolution, bill, etc.) on the table of a deliberative or legislative assembly; hence, to bring forward or submit for discussion or consideration. In U.S. Pol., to lay on the table as a way of postponing indefinitely; to shelve: cf. table n. 5 b.
1718Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 378 Another act was passed..that all appeals should be brought up and tabled before the Bills, within three days after the Assembly sit down. 1726Ibid. III. 245 Provost Campbell's appeal..was tabled, and the President and others moved a committee might be named to take it up. 1862Star & Dial 14 Mar., Mr. Walpole has tabled a set of resolutions devised in the true Conservative spirit. 1866Daily Tel. 30 Jan., To table a resolution has nearly the same effect in America as the order to read a bill ‘this day six months’ has in England. 1887Pall Mall G. 3 Jan. 11/1 If any more ‘Old Residents’ wish to be heard they must table their names. 1916J. B. Thoburn Stand. Hist. Oklahoma II. 715 [The bill] was sent to the council where it was considered, amended, and finally tabled. 1931H. F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt i. vi. 71 The resolution had no sooner been offered than..members were..demanding that it be tabled. 1950W. S. Churchill 2nd World War III. ii. xxxvi. 609 The British Staff prepared a paper which they wished to raise as a matter of urgency, and informed their American colleagues that they wished to ‘table it’. To the American Staff ‘tabling’ a paper meant putting it away in a drawer and forgetting it. 1974Sumter (S. Carolina) Daily Item 22 Apr. 5a/7 Various plans for fundraising were discussed but it was decided to table any such plans until the fall.
b. With other implications: esp. to pay down (money); to throw down or play (a card).
1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 224 Could he tell what to..table [for the lackey]? 1832― J. Carlyle 45 A refreshment of ale, for which he too used to table his twopence. 1837― Fr. Rev. II. iii. vi, Royalty has always that sure trump-card in its hand;..yet never tables it, still puts it back again. 1878Bayne Purit. Rev. v. 177 When the Short Parliament of 1640 refused to grant supplies, Laud's clergy in Convocation tabled their money. 1892Gard. Chron. 27 Aug. 248/2 The nurserymen and florists tabled a large and fine assortment of cut flowers.
5. To furnish (a room) with tables. nonce-use.
1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvii, The offices were..newly tabled.
6. Carpentry. To join two pieces of timber firmly together by means of flat oblong projections (called ‘tables’ or ‘coaks’: see table n. 17 f, coak n. 1) in each alternately, fitting into corresponding recesses in the other. Also intr. for pass.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 23 Cheeks..sometimes table on to the mast-head thus. 1794–c 1850 [see tabling vbl. n. 7]. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 402/1 The customary way of putting them together is to table them; and the length of the tablings should be one-half more than the depth of the beam.
7. Sail-making. To make a broad hem or ‘tabling’ on the edge of (a sail), to strengthen it in that part which is sewed to the bolt-rope (see tabling vbl. n. 8).
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 89 Tabled, the edges turned over and sewed down. 1797in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 433/1 That the lower side of the band may be tabled upon or sewed over the end of the buntline pieces. Ibid., The buntline cloths and top-linings are carried up to the lower side of the middle band, which is tabled on them.
8. To sift (shot): see quot.
1858Greener Gunnery 436 About three different sizes come out through one pan. These are separated by the aid of riddles, or tabled, as the process is termed. |