Round Tablen.adj.
/ˌraʊnd ˈteɪbl/, U.S. /ˈraʊn(d) ˌteɪb(ə)l/ 1. † a. A meeting or assembly of King Arthur's knights (see sense 1b). Obsolete.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of deliberative or legislative assembly > [noun] > of King Arthur's knights
Round Tablec1325
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 3916 (MED) Þer nas bituene þis & spayne no prince..Þat nas at þis rounde table.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 53 (MED) Then rystede that ryall and helde þe rounde tabyll.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 74 Thus on ryall araye he helde his rounde table.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 126 (MED) He [sc. Arthur] held his houshold and the rounde table, Some time at Edenburgh, some tyme at Striueline.
b. In Arthurian legend: the table around which King Arthur and his knights sat, which was made circular in shape so none should have precedence.The earliest mention of the table is that in Wace's Roman de Brut (1155). From at least the 15th cent. (see quot. 1485) the name has been given to a large circular table preserved at Winchester, bearing the names of Arthur and his most famous knights.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > table > [noun] > specific table
Round Tablec1330
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 2196 Our king bigan þe rounde table—Þat was þurth Merlines hest... At þat table non sitt miȝt Bot he were noble & douhti kniȝt.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 14 Aunters sere I here of tell, Als wawan, cai..For to were þe ronde tabell [Gött. runde tabil, Trin. Cambr. rounde tabul, Fairf. rounde tabil].
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 10359 Ffor his barons þat were so bold..did he ordeyn þe rounde table [Fr. la roonde table] þat men telle of many fable.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 98 I shall gyff hym the Table Rounde which Uther, hys fadir, gaff me.
1485 W. Caxton in Malory's Morte Darthur Pref. sig. ijv In dyuers places of Englond, many remembraunces ben yet of hym... At Wynchester the rounde table.
1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Aii The feyned no where acts, of Arthur of the rounde table.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion iv. 62 Then sing they how hee first ordain'd the Circled-board, The Knights whose martiall deeds farre fam'd that Table-round.
1684 G. S. Anglorum Speculum 124 As for his Round-Table there is very little of Probability in it.
1700 J. Brome Trav. i. 45 Upon the Wall hereof [sc. of Winchester Castle] hangs the Round Table..call'd King Arthur's Round Table; whether this can justly claim so great Antiquity, as is attributed to it, I shall not undertake to determine.
1767 T. Percy Reliques Anc. Eng. Poetry (ed. 2) III. p. xi The stories of King Arthur and his Round Table, may be reasonably supposed of the growth of this island; both the English and the French had them from the Britons.
1802 J. Ritson Anc. Eng. Metrical Romanceës I. p. xlvi Neither..does this impostour [sc. Geoffrey of Monmouth] ever mention the round table.
1870 E. L. Blanchard Induction in C. Scott Drawing-room Plays p. xii When the knights sallied forth, and adventures they found, In quest of fair damsels by sorcery bound, And they sat all night long at the great Table Round.
1915 St. Nicholas Feb. 316 In the Great Hall of Winchester Castle there hangs, on the east wall, the top of an very old round table known for centuries as Arthur's Round Table.
1964 M. L. von Franz in C. G. Jung et al. Man & his Symbols iii. 234 King Arthur's round table..itself is an image derived from the table of the Last Supper.
1995 G. Rose Love's Work viii. 113 King Arthur..built a Round Table, emblem of equality, and sent out cryers for the best knights to join the debate.
c. The body of King Arthur's knights.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > legend or folk tale > [noun] > legendary personage > specific > collectively
Round Tablec1330
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 5780 He..baren doun..Ȝete fourti of þe table rounde.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 5749 (MED) Bi hemself þe rounde table wes..And to þe bataile flongen þo.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 313 (MED) Now is þe reuel & þe renoun of þe Rounde Table Ouer-walt wyth a worde of on wyȝes speche.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 93 (MED) Þat thow bee redy at Rome with all thi rounde table.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 460 All your courte and Rounde Table is by sir Launcelot worshypped and amended.
a1500 (a1400) Sir Cleges (Adv.) (1930) 9 (MED) A dowtyar was non of dedis Of the Rovnd Tabull right.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 124 (MED) The kyng then..The worthyest of euery realme aboute In the table rounde then sent.
1602 W. Segar Honor Mil. & Civill ii. v. 57 Merlyn..many yeeres before affirmed, that Arthur after a certaine time should resuscitate, and come vnto Carlion to restore the round Table.
1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain ii. xxv. 94 Already gasping on the ground, Lie twenty of the Table Round.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Morte d'Arthur in Poems (new ed.) II. 14 But now the whole Round Table is dissolved..; And I, the last, go forth companionless.
1869 Ld. Tennyson Coming of Arthur 267 He spake and cheer'd his Table Round With large divine and comfortable words.
1919 H. O. Taylor Mediaeval Mind (ed. 3) xxv. 15 A lad spied the great knight, and ran breathless to Arthur, to tell of the stranger who seemed to challenge all the Round Table.
1982 M. Z. Bradley Mists of Avalon iv. vi. 719 You are Morgaine's son.., you shall go to be the voice of the Round Table among the Saxon kings.
2002 J. A. Burrow Gestures & Looks in Medieval Narr. iv. 141 Gawain is invested with the adventure, on behalf of the whole Round Table, by the symbolic act of handing over the axe.
2.
a. An assembly of knights for the purpose of holding a tournament and festival, esp. that convened by King Edward III in 1345; (also) the order of knights proposed by Edward at this time (see Order of the Round Table at Phrases 2).
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?a1425 (a1400) Brut (Corpus Cambr.) 296 When þe Iustes were don, King Edward made a grete soper..and bygan þe Rounde Table & ordeyned & stefastyd þe day of þe forsaide Rounde Table to be holde..in Whitesen-wike euermore after erly.
1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower (1971) xxiiii. 43 A good lady that gat a grete blame at a grete feste of a round table atte Ioustes.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. c. 120 The king of Englond toke pleasure to newe reedefy the Castell of Wyndsore,..and ther firste begonne the table rounde.
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. iv. f. 103/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I Edwarde the third deuised an other order not so much pestered with multitude of Knightes as the rounde table.
1610 J. Seldon Dvello 13 The two Chronologers..remember that about xxxv. of Hen. 111. diuers Knights appointed their Ioustes at Walden in Essex, and they both call them by the name of the Round Table.
1672 E. Ashmole Inst. Order of Garter v. 183 Crescy, fought almost three years after his seting up the Round Table at Windesor.
1714 T. Dawson Mem. St. George 39 The French King, Philip de Valoys, in Emulation of these martial Associations at Windsor,..set up a Round Table.
1765 T. Percy Reliques I. 35 Any king was said to ‘hold a round table’ when he proclaimed a tournament attended with some peculiar solemnities.
1875 W. P. Warburton Edward III ii. ii. 95 He proclaimed a Round Table, or great international tournament in honour of King Arthur, at Windsor.
1918 R. Withington Eng. Pageantry I. ii. 90 No word is said of possible masquerading at the Falkirk ‘round table’ in January, 1302.
1962 G. Holmes Later Middle Ages (1966) iv. 73 During this period the tournament was changed..into the courtly ceremonial of the Round Table, within the ‘lists’ before spectators.
1986 J. R. V. Barker Tournament in Eng. iii. 68 The fact that Edward's Round Table was open to foreign knights as well as to Englishmen made it a useful political tool in his war against France.
b. A circular building at Windsor Castle, said to have been erected by Edward III in 1344, in which to entertain the Knights of the Round Table (see sense 2a). historical.The earliest account of the building is found in Thomas Walsingham's Historia Anglicana (see quot. a1450 in etymology). A probable site for the building was discovered in the Upper Ward of the castle in 2006.
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1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 922/2 The King caused a great number of artificers and labourers to be taken vp, whome hee set in hande to buylde a chamber in the Castell of Windesor, whiche was called the rounde table.
1612 J. Speed Theatre of Empire of Great Brit. xii. 575/2 He erected a building..which should be called the Round Table, whose circumference was sixe hundred foot, where Knights and men of warre should haue their entertainement of diet, at his charge.
1652 A. Ross Hist. World Brief Chronol. sig. Rrrr2 The order of the Garter instituted; and the Round-Table at Windsor erected.
1704 T. Salmon New Hist. Acc. St. George for Eng. ii. ii. 61 He did in the Year 1344 build a House at the Castle of Windsor call'd the Round Table; the diameter of it was 200 Foot, and the Weekly Expence which he allow'd was an Hundred Pound.
1846 C. R. Cockerell in Proc. Archæol. Instit., Winchester 2 In the issue roll, 30 Edw. III., there are accounts rendered for 52 oaks taken for the round Table at Windsor. Thus it is clear that the round Table in these accounts means a building, and a pretty solid one.
1895 J. D. S. Campbell Governor's Guide to Windsor Castle 148 We hear of a building called the Round Table, which was 200 feet in diameter.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 678/2 The Round Table..had been built in 1344..when Wykeham had nothing to do with Windsor.
2007 J. Munby et al. Edward III's Round Table at Windsor p. xii We realised that finding the footings of the Round Table in the Upper Ward could be combined to great effect with the surviving official records.
3. Any of various (typically circular) natural or man-made formations reputedly associated with King Arthur. Frequently more fully (King) Arthur's Round Table.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > [noun] > landform > other types
Round Tablec1470
c1470 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (1845) I. 306 Terra Roberti Wode..nuncupata lye Rownde Tabill.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiii. 379 Beneth the castell [of Stirling] went thai soyne, Richt by the rownde tabill thair way.
1559 D. Lindsay Test. Papyngo l. 634 in Wks. (1931) I Adew, fair Snawdoun, with thy touris hie, Thy Chapell royall, Park, and tabyll rounde!
1612 J. Selden in M. Drayton Poly-olbion iv. Illustr. 70 In Denbighshire..is a circular plaine, cut out of a maine rocke, with some XXIV. seats vnequall, which they call Arthurs Round Table.
1641 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1871) I. 270 The mercheant booth..lyand in the Round Tabill.
1708 P. Gordon Geogr. Anatomiz'd (ed. 5) ii. i. 214 In the North of Westmorland, is a round Entrenchment with a plain piece of Ground in the middle, commonly term'd K. Arthur's round Table.
1767 P. Luckombe Beauties of Eng. (ed. 3) 320 Lhansannam, 7 miles from Denbigh, is noted for a cave in the side of a rock, containing 24 seats,..now called Arthur's round table.
1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain i. vii. 24 He pass'd red Penrith's Table Round, For feats of chivalry renown'd.
1872 C. Hardwick Trad., Superstitions, & Folk-lore 216 Several circular mounds in various parts of England..are..honoured with the name of ‘King Arthur's Round Table’.
1913 J. D. Abraham Motor Ways in Lakeland ix. 178 The circular mound, altogether covered with grass and known as King Arthur's Round Table, lies in a field just opposite the Crown Inn.
2002 S. Blake & S. Lloyd Pendragon vii. 168 The remains of the Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon in South Wales were long known as Arthur's Round Table, until excavation in the 1920s disproved this claim.
4. A formal association whose members meet regularly for discussion; spec. (a branch of) an international charitable association founded in 1927, which holds discussions and undertakes community service, and is open to men between the ages of 18 and (depending on country) 40 or 45, typically from business and professional groups. Also (allusively) as adj.: designating the qualities or characteristics associated with the Round Table or its members.In early use frequently more fully as Round Table Club, etc.
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society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > Rotary or Round Table
Round Table1819
Rotary Club1907
rotary1911
1668 T. St. Serfe Tarugo's Wiles iii. i. 20 I pray Sir when you were at London , did you know e're a Coffee house that went by the Title of the Politick Speculatists of the Roundtable.]
1819 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 642/1 Neither he, nor any of the delicate chirping members of the Round Table Club, could have any chance for seats.
1863 R. W. Dickinson Let. 20 Apr. in W. B. Sprague Ann. Amer. Pulpit (1869) IX. 46 An Association composed of twelve members of the Seminary, (called the Round Table Club,) meeting once a month for the purpose of discussing various points.
1917 L. Curtis Let. People India 13 The Round Table organisation..is merely a system for enabling people to unite for the study of their duties as citizens of this Commonwealth, as a guide to their own individual action.
1928 Rev. of Reviews Mar.–Apr. 253/2 At Norwich..an Association of Young Men has established a Club for young business men, meeting once a week in the evening for the reading of papers, discussions, and debates, under the title of ‘The Round Table’.
1972 J. Burmeister Running Scared xvii. 213 The woman was..wearing carefully bleached out jeans... Round Table, thought Ginny, with a touch of country. ‘I'm terribly sorry.’ The voice was Round Table too.
1977 Times of Zambia 7 Sept. 2/4 The committee is made up of the Rotary, Round Table and Lions clubs members.
1999 National Trust Mag. Summer 6/1 The National Trust will be working with Lions Clubs International,..Round Tables, the Family Welfare Association and Family Services Units.
5. Usually with lower-case initials. An assembly of people with a common interest; spec. an assembly of people for a conference or discussions at which all participants are accorded equal status. Also in extended use: a collection of opinions or remarks on a particular subject.In quot. 1830: a group of people seated around a circular card table.
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the mind > language > speech > conversation > [noun] > conferring or consulting > one who participates in > group of participants
session?1615
Round Table1830
society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > meeting or assembling for common purpose > [noun] > a meeting > types of
morn-speechOE
court1154
morrow-speech1183
conventicle1382
congregation1389
plenary session1483
journeyc1500
night school1529
assession1560
general meeting1565
family meeting1638
panegyris1647
desk1691
collegea1703
annual general meeting1725
mass meeting1733
panegyre1757
plenum1772
family council1797
coterie1805
Round Table1830
GA1844
indignation meeting1848
protest meeting1852
hui1858
primary1859
Quaker meeting1861
mothers' meeting1865
sit-down1868
town hall1912
jamboree1919
protest rally1921
con1940
face-to-face1960
morning prayers1961
struggle meeting1966
be-in1967
love-in1967
plenary1969
catch-up1972
rencontre1975
schmoozefest1976
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 131 For cards she had no genius. Even the noise and nonsense of a round-table could not reconcile her to those bits of painted pasteboard.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 656/2 Those four hundred poets who formed the famous ‘Round Table’ in the sultan's..palace.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 6 Nov. 4/1 The ‘New Round Table’ is a symposium on Home Rule—a collection of remarks..from persons of various standpoints.
1928 Daily Express 3 July 2/4 The Archbishop of Canterbury made a striking proposal yesterday for a ‘round table’ to discuss the future relations of Church and State.
1952 D. Riesman in Antioch Rev. Dec. 418 A roundtable..of which he was chairman at the Corning Conference.
2006 Philos. Now Feb.–Mar. 9/1 Twenty-five sections, ten symposia, seven colloquia, and twenty-seven round tables wrestled with a multitude of philosophical problems.
Phrases
P1. Knight (formerly also †fellow, etc.) of the Round Table: any one of King Arthur's knights; (later also) a member of Edward III's Order of the Round Table (see sense 2a). Usually in plural. [Compare Middle French, French chevalier de la table ronde (1534 or earlier).]
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by branch of army > [noun] > mounted soldier > knight
riderlOE
Flower of Chivalry1297
Knight (formerly also fellow, etc.) of the Round Tablec1330
chevalier1377
knight voyagerc1500
ritter1577
cavalier1596
knight-
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 6518 (MED) Next hem..Sat þe kniȝtes of þe rounde table.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) viii. 2920 (MED) Al the knihtes of the rounde table..Wer present ther..be oth & promys bounde To brothreed of the table rounde.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 17 (MED) I sall tell ȝow a tale..Off the ryeall renkys of the rownnde table.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail liii. l. 191 (MED) Kyng Vryens..was ful of worthynesse In kyng Arthures tyme..and a felawe was Of the Rownde-table.
1485 Malory's Morte Darthur (Caxton) iv. iv. sig. fvv By my hede said Arthur he is best worthy to be a knyght of the rounde table of ony that ye haue reherced.
a1500 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Douce) 304 (MED) Al þe rial rowte of þe rounde table Þei shullene dye one a day.
1552 in Archaeologia (1863) 39 34 To the knights of the Round Table (if I do it not in my lifetyme) xxs. to be spent at Myle end.
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie i. sig. Z5v Those feats of Chivalry, affabulated to him and his Knights of the Round-table.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Table Paulus Jovius says, 'twas under the Empire of Frederic Barberosa, that the Knights of the Round Table first began to be talk'd of.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1787) III. xxxviii. 619 The gallantry and superstition of the British hero,..and the memorable institution of his Knights of the Round Table.
1803 W. Godwin Life Chaucer I. 133 Edward III..purposing from the knights whose prowess on this occasion should be the most approved, to select the members of his new order, to be styled knights of the Round Table.
1894 Athenæum 22 Dec. 866/3 Prof. Rhys..is not backward in recognizing what may be called the Welshness of the whole body of histories concerned with the ‘blameless king’ and his knights of the Round Table.
1922 W. H. Elson et al. Junior High School Lit. III. ii. 290 The old romances about Arthur and the knights of the Round Table had much to say about a fairy called the Lady of the Lake.
1942 J. W. Bennet Evol. Faerie Queene vii. 83 Arthegall was the most famous of the legendary British earls, a knight of the Round Table in the days of King Arthur.
2004 Time Out N.Y. 7 Oct. 75/1 The charred forests presented in washed-out Cibachromes are like sad remnants of those where Gawain and other knights of the Round Table..found their glory.
P2. Order of the Round Table: the legendary order of knighthood instituted by King Arthur; (later also) an order of knights proposed by Edward III, later realized in modified form as the Order of the Garter (cf. sense 2a).
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1565 J. Stow Summarie Eng. Chrons. f. 31 Iohn Frosarde affirmeth, that kyng Arthure buylded the castell of Wyndesour: and there founded the order of the rounde Table.
1680 W. Petyt Britannia Languens xii. 221 Although Edward the Third, revived the Order of the Round Table, he did not perform his great Atchievements by the meer virtue of Knight Errantry.
1773 Hist. & Antiq. Winchester I. 7 At this solemnity, Arthur Pendragon is said to have invented the order of the round table, at which the aforesaid Joseph sat with him.
1801 E. W. Brayley & J. Britton Beauties Eng. & Wales I. 254 He determined to restore the ancient order of the Round Table, and, by dropping the idle ceremonies of etiquette, bind them more immediately to his person.
1873 Antiquary 20 Dec. 296/1 The fellowship of the Order of the Round Table was supreme above all others, and held in the highest degree of esteem.
1920 J. L. Haney Eng. Lit. ii. 42 In Wace we find the first mention of the Order of the Round Table, instituted by King Arthur to settle all matters of precedence among his knights.
2007 J. Munby et al. Edward III's Round Table at Windsor Introd. p. xi In 1344, Edward III had held a magnificent festival, which had ended with his promise to found an Order of the Round Table.
Compounds
General attributive.
a. In sense 1b, as Round Table knight, Round Table legend, etc.
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1569 E. Fenton tr. P. Boaistuau Certaine Secrete Wonders Nature sig. Aiijv With howe great earnestnesse and delight the vnlearned sorte runne ouer the fruitlesse Historie of king Arthur and his round table Knights.
1647 J. Cleveland Char. Moderate Intelligencer 5 You are but under Tyrants, not so wittie As the Round-Table Knights, the Grand Committee.
1691 J. Wilson Belphegor v. i. 55 More undaunted, than the twelve Peers of France; or greater Bullies, than King Arthur's Round-Table Men.
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Wife of Bathe's Tale in Fables 492 Is this the Custom of King Arthur's Court? Are all Round-Table Knights of such a sort?
1798 Countess Purgstall Let. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1837) I. ix. 288 Don't..give him a name out of your list of round-table knights.
1827 Stories Chivalry & Romance 149 (title) The enchanted shield. A round-table adventure.
1846 Proc. Ann. Meeting Archaeol. Inst. 63 Those..whose critical acquaintance with the cycle of the Round table romances will enable them to state the source from which the names are borrowed.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 523/1 He [sc. Walter Map] was..one of the principal creators of the Round Table legends.
1915 D. G. Mason Art of Music IX. ix. 302 Emanating from the Round Table Legends, it [sc. ‘Tristan and Iseult’] spread into the literature of nearly all cultured peoples.
1975 A. Mygind et al. tr. J. Markale Women of Celts ii. iv. 95 A thirteenth-century French tale from the Round Table cycle, introduces a strange variation on the myth of the white pig.
2004 T. J. Parker Calif. Girl xix. 181 The hippie affectation made him look more like a deranged Round Table knight than a love child.
b. In sense 5, as round table conference, round table talk, etc.
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1863 Boston Rev. 3 114 We group them for a little Round Table talk.
1880 Sunday School Jrnl. May 115/2 C. L. S. C. Annual meetings... 1. Students' Sessions. 2. Round-Table Conferences.
1901 H. W. Paul Life Gladstone xxi. 245 The year 1887 opened with an attempt to reconcile the conflicting elements of the Liberal Party, which came to be known as the Round Table Conference.
1947 Radio Times 14 Mar. 1/2 Round-table controversial political discussions, which the BBC will continue to originate.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 10 Apr. 1/3 The Observer convened an informal round-table talk involving six young people with differing perspectives.
2002 A. Ikeo Japanese Econ. & Economists since 1945 i. 45 The organizer of a round-table conference can set up a particular theme and invite 40-50 expert economists.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.c1325