table

plural tables · alternative Geordie tyebble

1. Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.
   1. countableAn item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground, usually on one or more legs.

      Set that dish on the table over there, please.

      2 more examples

      He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.

      1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

      A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away,[…].

      1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   2. countableA flat tray which can be used as a table.
   3. broadlycountableA supply of food or entertainment.

      The baron kept a fine table and often held large banquets.

   4. countablemetonymicallyA booth or display at an event such as an exposition or fair.
   5. countableChristianityA service of Holy Communion.
   6. countableThe board or table-like furniture on which a game is played, such as snooker, billiards, or draughts.
   7. countablebackgammonOne half of a backgammon board, which is divided into an inner and outer table.
   8. countablehistoricalpluralbackgammonThe game of backgammon, or any of several related games.
2. A group of people at a table, for example, for a meal, meeting or game; a meeting at a table.

   Alas poore Yorick […] VVhere be your Jibes now? Your Gambals? Your Songs? Your flaſhes of Merriment that were wont to ſet the Table on a Rore?

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 278, column 1

   1 more example

   The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   1. uncountableThe act of assembling to eat; a gathering to eat, especially at a restaurant.

      Time to come to table.

      1 more example

      Join us at the table I booked at the restaurant.

   2. metonymicallycard gamesThe lineup of players at a given table.

      That's the strongest table I've ever seen at a European Poker Tour event.

   3. metonymicallyroleplaying gamesA group of players meeting regularly to play a campaign.
   4. metonymicallyA group of diners at a given table or tables.

      Table 9 wants another round of beers.

      1 more example

      John always gets the best tips because he gets the best tables! It's not fair!

   5. figurativelyA session or sessions of negotiation or diplomacy; an opportunity or place for negotiations.

      under the table, on the table, turn the tables

      3 more examples

      We need to send someone to represent us at the bargaining table.

      Some real breakthroughs were made at the summit, but only far from the official diplomatic table.

      He has remarkable skills and expertise to bring to the negotiating table.

3. A two-dimensional presentation of data; an enumeration of data or contents.

   table of contents, tide table

   1. A matrix or grid of data arranged in rows and columns.

      1 more example

      I’m using mathesis — a universal science of measurement and order … And there is also taxinomia a principle of classification and ordered tabulation. Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables … Western reason had entered the age of judgement.

      1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, Totem Books, Icon Books, →ISBN, page 69

      Synonyms: grid, vector

   2. A collection of arithmetic calculations arranged in a table, such as multiplications in a multiplication table.

      Don’t you know your tables?

      2 more examples

      The children were practising multiplication tables.

      Here is a table of natural logarithms.

   3. computingA lookup table, most often a set of vectors.
   4. hobbiesA visual representation of a classification of teams or individuals based on their success over a predetermined period.

      On this evidence they will certainly face tougher tests, as a depleted Newcastle side seemed to bask in the relative security of being ninth in the table.

      2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport

4. Any of various flat surfaces or items with a planar surface.
   1. A tableland; a flat, elevated region.
   2. geographyA horizontal stratum of rock.
   3. anatomyA flat length of bone.
   4. anatomyThe inner and outer plates that make up the cranium bones; the outer table and the inner table (vitreous table).
   5. equestrianismA wide, flat obstacle for a horse to jump over.
   6. architectureA stringcourse; a band of horizontal molding or other decoration around a building.
   7. entertainmentThe top of a stringed instrument, particularly a member of the violin family: the side of the instrument against which the strings vibrate.
   8. jewelryThe flat topmost facet of a cut diamond.
   9. A flat gravestone supported on pillars.
   10. palmistryThe quadrangle, a space between the heart line and head line.
   11. obsoletebiblicalA writing tablet.
   12. mediaA flat surface that supports the slab on which ink is rolled to manipulate its consistency.

present singular third person tables · participle present tabling · participle past tabled · past tabled · alternative Geordie tyebble

1. To tabulate; to put into a table or grid.First known use 15th c.

   to table fines

2. archaicTo supply (a guest, client etc.) with food at a table; to feed.First known use 15th c.

   'April 13 1638, Henry Wotton, letter to John Milton At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni

3. obsoleteTo delineate; to represent, as in a picture; to depict.First known use 17th–19th c.

   c. 1607, Francis Bacon, letter to Tobie Matthew tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation

4. To put on the table of a commission or legislative assembly; to propose for formal discussion or consideration, to put on the agenda.First known use 17th c.

   In a raucous Commons, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, confirmed he had tabled a formal motion of confidence in the government, backed by other opposition leaders, which MPs would vote on on Wednesday.

   2019 January 16, Heather Stewart, Daniel Boffey, The Guardian

   Synonyms: moot, propose

5. USTo remove from the agenda, to postpone dealing with; to shelve (to indefinitely postpone consideration or discussion of something).First known use 19th c.

   The motion was tabled, ensuring that it would not be taken up until a later date.

   1 more example

   The legislature tabled the amendment, so they will not be discussing it until later.

6. metonymicallyTo represent a company or organization (at an exposition, fair, etc.), usually at a booth or display.
7. obsoletebusinessTo join (pieces of timber) together using coaks.First known use 18th–19th c.
8. To put on a table.First known use 19th c.

   1833 Thomas Carlyle, letter to his Mother, The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson [A]fter some clatter offered us a rent of five pounds for the right to shoot here, and even tabled the cash that moment, and would not pocket it again.

9. colloquialcard gamesTo show one's cards face-up, especially during showdown.
10. nauticalTo make board hems in the skirts and bottoms of (sails) in order to strengthen them in the part attached to the bolt-rope.