pier table

plural pier tables

1. A small table, usually set against the wall between two windows.

   There is no telling the love of a Tahitian for a sailor’s trunk. […] When obtained, no pier-table just placed in a drawing-room, is regarded with half the delight.

   1847, Herman Melville, chapter 39, in Omoo, page 194

   1 more example

   Curious implements you found in that room. A grape-scissors though never known grapes in the house. A quirl for scraping butter. Longish spoon with holes in it that was called a mote-skimmer: used for straining the strangers off your tea. All laid out on the pier-table, its cloth so starched it might stand on its own.

   2001, Jamie O’Neill, chapter 6, in At Swim, Two Boys, page 151