n. [ F., fr. L. tabula a board, tablet, a painting. Cf. Tabular, Taffrail, Tavern. ] 1. A smooth, flat surface, like the side of a board; a thin, flat, smooth piece of anything; a slab. [ 1913 Webster ]

A bagnio paved with fair tables of marble. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A thin, flat piece of wood, stone, metal, or other material, on which anything is cut, traced, written, or painted; a tablet; pl. a memorandum book. “The names . . . written on his tables.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

And 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

And stand there with your tables to glean
The golden sentences. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any smooth, flat surface upon which an inscription, a drawing, or the like, may be produced. “Painted in a table plain.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

St. Antony has a table that hangs up to him from a poor peasant. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 group; a scheme; a schedule. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) (Bibliog.) A view of the contents of a work; a statement of the principal topics discussed; an index; a syllabus; a synopsis; as, a table of contents. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) (Chem.) A list of substances and their properties; especially, the a list of the elementary substances with their atomic weights, densities, symbols, etc.; the periodic table of the elements. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) (Mathematics, Science and Technology) Any collection and arrangement in a condensed form of many particulars or values, for ready reference, as of weights, measures, currency, specific gravities, etc.; 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, etc.; annuity tables; interest tables; astronomical tables; a table of logarithms, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) (Palmistry) The arrangement or disposition of the lines which appear on the inside of the hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mistress of a fairer table
Hath not history for fable. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An article of furniture, consisting of a flat slab, board, or the like, having a smooth surface, fixed horizontally on legs, and used for a great variety of purposes, as in eating, writing, or working. [ 1913 Webster ]

We may again
Give to our tables meat. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nymph the table spread. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Hence, food placed on a table to be partaken of; fare; entertainment; as, to set a good table. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. The company assembled round a table. [ 1913 Webster ]

I drink the general joy of the whole table. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Anat.) One of the two, external and internal, layers of compact bone, separated by diploe, in the walls of the cranium. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Arch.) A stringcourse which includes an offset; esp., a band of stone, or the like, set where an offset is required, so as to make it decorative. See Water table. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Games) (a) The board on the opposite sides of which backgammon and draughts are played. (b) One of the divisions of a backgammon board; as, to play into the right-hand table. (c) pl. The games of backgammon and of draughts. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice,
That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Glass Manuf.) A circular plate of crown glass. [ 1913 Webster ]

A circular plate or table of about five feet diameter weighs on an average nine pounds. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Jewelry) The upper flat surface of a diamond or other precious stone, the sides of which are cut in angles. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. (Persp.) A plane surface, supposed to be transparent and perpendicular to the horizon; -- called also perspective plane. [ 1913 Webster ]

14. (Mach.) The part of a machine tool on which the work rests and is fastened. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bench table,
Card table,
Communion table,
Lord's table, etc. See under Bench, Card, etc. --
Raised table (Arch. & Sculp.), a raised or projecting member of a flat surface, large in proportion to the projection, and usually rectangular, -- especially intended to receive an inscription or the like. --
Roller table (Horology), a flat disk on the arbor of the balance of a watch, holding the jewel which rolls in and out of the fork at the end of the lever of the escapement. --
Round table. See Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction. --
Table anvil, a small anvil to be fastened to a table for use in making slight repairs. --
Table base. (Arch.) Same as Water table. --
Table bed, a bed in the form of a table. --
Table beer, beer for table, or for common use; small beer. --
Table bell, a small bell to be used at table for calling servants. --
Table cover, a cloth for covering a table, especially at other than mealtimes. --
Table diamond, a thin diamond cut with a flat upper surface. --
Table linen, linen tablecloth, napkins, and the like. --
Table money (Mil. or Naut.), an allowance sometimes made to officers over and above their pay, for table expenses. --
Table rent (O. Eng. Law), rent paid to a bishop or religious, reserved or appropriated to his table or housekeeping. Burrill. --
Table shore (Naut.), a low, level shore. --
Table talk, conversation at table, or at meals. --
Table talker, one who talks at table. --
Table tipping,
Table turning, certain movements of tables, etc., attributed by some to the agency of departed spirits, and by others to the development of latent vital or spriritual forces, but more commonly ascribed to the muscular force of persons in connection with the objects moved, or to physical force applied otherwise. --
Tables of a girder or
Tables of a chord (Engin.), the upper and lower horizontal members. --
To lay on the table, in parliamentary usage, to lay, as a report, motion, etc., on the table of the presiding officer, -- that is, to postpone the consideration of, by a vote; -- also called to table . It is a tactic often used with the intention of postponing consideration of a motion indefinitely, that is, to kill the motion. --
To serve tables (Script.), to provide for the poor, or to distribute provisions for their wants. Acts vi. 2. --
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. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To live at the table of another; to board; to eat. [ Obs. ] “He . . . was driven from the society of men to table with the beasts.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tabled p. pr. & vb. n. Tabling ] 1. To form into a table or catalogue; to tabulate; as, to table fines. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To delineate, as on a table; to represent, as in a picture. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To supply with food; to feed. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Carp.) To insert, as one piece of timber into another, by alternate scores or projections from the middle, to prevent slipping; to scarf. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To lay or place on a table, as money. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. In parliamentary usage, to lay on the table; to postpone, by a formal vote, the consideration of (a bill, motion, or the like) till called for, or indefinitely. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To enter upon the docket; as, to table charges against some one. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Naut.) To make broad hems in the skirts and bottoms of (sails) in order to strengthen them in the part attached to the boltrope. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Tableaux [ F., dim. fr. L. tabula a painting. See Table. ] 1. A striking and vivid representation; a picture. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A representation of some scene by means of persons grouped in the proper manner, placed in appropriate postures, and remaining silent and motionless. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Solitaire) The arrangement, or layout, of cards. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖ pl. Tableaux vivants [ F. ] Same as Tableau, n., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tablet; a notebook. [ 1913 Webster ]

Put into your tablebook whatever you judge worthy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cloth for covering a table, especially one with which a table is covered before the dishes, etc., are set on for meals. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ pl. Tables d'hôte [ F., literally, table of the landlord. ] 1. A common table for guests at a hotel; an ordinary. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Now, commonly, a meal, usually of several preselected and fixed courses, in a restaurant, hotel, or the like, for which one pays a fixed price. Sometimes, a meal with optional courses for which one pays a fixed price irrespective of what one orders; but the latter is usuallyt referred to as a pris fixe meal or a a la carte meal. Often used adjectively; as, a table-d'hôte meal. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A broad, level, elevated area of land; a plateau. [ 1913 Webster ]

The toppling crags of Duty scaled,
Are close upon the shining table-lands
To which our God himself is moon and sun. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Tablemen A man at draughts; a piece used in playing games at tables. See Table, n., 10. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]