Table

n. [Fr. table, Pr. & O. It. taula, Sp. tabla, Pg. taboa, It. tavola, from Lat. tabula, a board, tablet, a painting; Ger. & D. tafel.]

1Sense 1. A smooth, flat surface, like the side of a board; a thin, flat, smooth piece of any thing; a slab. “A bagnio paved with fair tables of marble.” Sandys.

2Sense 2. Hence, a slab, a plate, a leaf, or a flat superficies, of wood, stone, metal, or other material, on which any thing is cut, traced, or written; a tablet; and hence, sometimes, a memorandum-book.

The Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. Ex. xxxiv. 1.

And stand there with your tables to glean The golden sentences. Beau. & Fl.

3Sense 3. Hence, that which is cut, drawn, or written on a smooth, flat surface; an inscription; a drawing; sometimes, a painting.

The opposite walls are painted by Rubens, which, with that other of the Infanta taking leave of Don Philip, is a most incomparable table. Evelyn.

St. Antony has a table that hangs up to him from a poor peasant. Addison.

4Sense 4. Hence, in a great variety of applications, a condensed statement which may be comprehended by the eye in a single view; a methodical or systematic synopsis; the presentation of many items or particulars in one connected group; a scheme; a schedule; as, (a.) (Bibliog.) A view of the contents of a work; a statement of the principal topics discussed; an index; a syllabus. (b.) (Chem.) A catalogue of substances and their properties. “A table of homologous compounds of the benzoic series.” Gregory. (c.) (Math.) Any collection and arrangement in a condensed form of many particulars or values, for ready reference, as of weights, measures, currency, specific gravities, &c.; also, a series of numbers following some law, and expressing particular values corresponding to certain other numbers on which they depend, and by means of which they are taken out for use in computations; as, tables of logarithms, sines, tangents, squares, cubes, &c.; annuity tables; interest tables; and the like. (d.) (Astron.) A series of numbers expressing for stated times and intervals the data of the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies and the values of their perturbations, or of other quantities, with the corresponding numbers, called arguments, by means of which the place of a body for any instant may be computed, or other astronomical calculation or reduction made; as, lunar tables; solar tables; planetary tables; tables of aberration, of refraction, and the like. (e.) (Palmistry.) The arrangement or disposition of the lines which appear on the inside of the hand. [Obs.]

Mistress of a fairer table Hath not history nor fable. B. Jonson.

5Sense 5. A flat slab, board, or the like, having a smooth surface, placed horizontally, and supported by legs, which is used as an article of furniture for a great variety of purposes, as to eat, work, or write upon.

We may again Give to our tables meat. Shak.

The nymph the table spread. Pope.

6Sense 6. Hence, food placed on a table to be partaken of; fare; entertainment; as, to keep a good table.

7Sense 7. The company assembled round a table.

I drink to the general joy of the whole table. Shak.

8Sense 8. (Anat.) One of the two, external and internal, bony laminæ, or layers, of the skull.

9Sense 9. (Arch.) A smooth, simple member or ornament of various forms, most usually in that of a long square.

10Sense 10. (Games.) (a.) The board on which backgammon or draughts is played. (b.) One of the sides or divisions of a folding board; as, to play into the right-hand table. (c.) The game itself; — used chiefly in the plural.

Monsieur, the nice, When he plays at tables chides the dice. Shak.

11Sense 11. (Glass Manuf.) A flat, circular sheet of crown glass.

A circular plate or table of about five feet diameter weighs, on an average, nine pounds. Ure.

12Sense 12. (Jewelry.) The upper flat surface of a diamond or other precious stone, the sides of which are cut in angles.

13Sense 13. (Perspective.) A plain surface, supposed to be transparent and perpendicular to the horizon; — called also perspective plane.

Raised table (Sculp.), an embossment in a frontispiece for an inscription or other ornament, supposed to be the abacus of Vitruvius. — Round table. See ROUND, and KNIGHT. — Tables of a girder or chord (Engin.), the upper and lower horizontal members. — The Lord’s table, the sacrament or communion of the Lord’s supper. — To lay on the table (Parliamentary Usage), to lay, as a report, motion, and the like, on the table of the presiding officer, — that is, to postpone, by a vote, the consideration of. — To serve tables, to provide for the poor, or to distribute provisions for their wants. — To turn the tables, to change the condition or fortune of contending parties; — a metaphorical expression taken from the vicissitudes of fortune in gaming. — Twelve Tables (Rom. Antiq.), a celebrated body of Roman laws, framed by decemvirs appointed 450 years before Christ, on the return of deputies or commissioners who had been sent to Greece to examine into foreign laws and institutions. They consisted partly of laws transcribed from the institutions of other nations, partly of such as were altered and accommodated to the manners of the Romans, partly of new provisions, and mainly, perhaps, of laws and usages under their ancient kings. Burrill.

[imp. & p. p. TABLED; p. pr. & vb. n. TABLING.]

1Sense 1. To form into a table or catalogue; to tabulate; as, to table fines.

2Sense 2. To delineate, as on a tablet; to represent, as in a picture. [Obs.] “Tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation.” Bacon.

3Sense 3. To supply with food; to feed. [Obs.]

When he himself tabled the Jews from heaven, that omer, which was every man's daily portion of manna, is computed to have been more than might well have sufficed the heartiest feeders thrice as many meals. Milton.

4Sense 4. (Carp.) To insert, as one piece of timber into another, by alternate scores or projections from the middle; to scarf.

5Sense 5. (Parliamentary Usage.) To lay on the table, that is, to postpone the consideration of, till called for, or indefinitely, by a formal vote.

6Sense 6. (Presbyterian Church.) To enter upon the docket; as, to table charges against some one.