Etymology Inherited from Middle English table, tabel, tabil, tabul, from Old English tabele, tabul, tablu, tabule, tabula (“board”); also as tæfl, tæfel, an early Germanic borrowing of Latin tabula (“tablet, board, plank, chart”). The sense of “piece of furniture” is from Old French table, of same Latin origin; Old English used bēod or bord instead for this meaning: see board. Doublet of tabula and tavla.
An 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.
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:
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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:
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The board or table-like furniture on which a game is played, such as snooker, billiards, or draughts.
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A flat tray which can be used as a table.
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A supply of food or entertainment.
The baron kept a fine table and often held large banquets.
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Metonymically A booth or display at an event such as an exposition or fair.
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A service of Holy Communion.
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Backgammon, Games One half of a backgammon board, which is divided into the inner and outer table.
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A wide, flat obstacle for a horse to jump over.
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A group of people at a table, for example, for a meal, meeting or game.
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:
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:
That's the strongest table I've ever seen at a European Poker Tour event
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Metonymically A group of players meeting regularly to play a campaign.
Roleplaying games
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Metonymically A group of diners at a given table or tables.
Table 9 wants another round of beers.
John always gets the best tips because he gets the best tables! It's not fair!
› A two-dimensional presentation of data.
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A matrix or grid of data arranged in rows and columns.
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:
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A collection of arithmetic calculations arranged in a table, such as multiplications in a multiplication table.
The children were practising multiplication tables.
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A 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:
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The top of a stringed instrument, particularly a member of the violin family: the side of the instrument against which the strings vibrate.
Etymology Inherited from Middle English table, tabel, tabil, tabul, from Old English tabele, tabul, tablu, tabule, tabula (“board”); also as tæfl, tæfel, an early Germanic borrowing of Latin tabula (“tablet, board, plank, chart”). The sense of “piece of furniture” is from Old French table, of same Latin origin; Old English used bēod or bord instead for this meaning: see board. Doublet of tabula and tavla.
Archaic To supply (a guest, client etc.) with food at a table; to feed.
'April 13 1638, Henry Wotton, letter to John Milton At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni
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Obsolete To delineate; to represent, as in a picture; to depict.
c. 1607, Francis Bacon, letter to Tobie Matthew tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation
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To put on the table of a commission or legislative assembly; to propose for formal discussion or consideration, to put on the agenda.
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:
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US To remove from the agenda, to postpone dealing with; to shelve (to indefinitely postpone consideration or discussion of something).
The legislature tabled the amendment, so they will not be discussing it until later.
The motion was tabled, ensuring that it would not be taken up until a later date.
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Metonymically To represent a company or organization (at an exposition, fair, etc.), usually at a booth or display.
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.