TA'BLE, n. [L. tabula.]

1. A flat surface of some extent, or a thing that has a flat surface; as, a table of marble.
2. An article of furniture, consisting usually of a frame with a surface of boards or of marble, supported by legs, and used for a great variety of purposes, as for holding dishes of meat, for writing on, &c. The nymph the table spread. Pope.
3. Fare or entertainment of provisions; as, he keeps a good table.
4. The persons sitting at table or partaking of entertainment. I drink to th' general joy of the whole table. Shak.
5. A tablet; a surface on which any thing is written or engraved. The ten commandments were written on two tables of stone. Exod. xxxii. Written– not on tables of stone, but on fleshy tables of the heart. 2 Cor. iii.
6. A picture, or something that exhibits a view of any thing on a flat surface. Saint Anthony has a table that hangs up to him from a poor peasant. Addison.
7. Among Christians, the table, or Lord's table, is the sacrament, or holy communion of the Lord's supper.
8. The altar of burnt-offering. Mal. i.
9. In architecture, a smooth, simple member or ornament of various forms, most usually in that of a long square.
10. In perspective, a plain surface, supposed to be transparent and perpendicular to the horizon. It is called also perspective plane. Cyc.
11. In anatomy, a division of the cranium or skull. The cranium is composed of two tables or lamins, with a cellular structure between them, called the meditullium or diplöe. Cyc. Wistar.
12. In the glass manufacture, a circular sheet of finished glass, usually about four feet in diameter, each weighing from ten to eleven pounds. Twelve of these are called a side or crate of glass.
13. In literature, an index; a collection of heads or principal matters contained in a book, with reference to the pages where each may be found; as, a table of contents. Watts.
14. A synopsis; many particulars brought into one view. B. Jonson.
15. The palm of the hand. Mistress of a fairer table / Hath not history nor fable. B. Jonson.
16. Draughts; small pieces of wood shifted on squares. We are in the world like men playing at tables. Taylor.
17. In mathematics, tables are systems of numbers calculated to be ready for expediting operations; as, a table of logarithms; a multiplication table.
18. Astronomical tables, are computations of the motions, places and other phenomena of the planets, both primary and secondary. Cyc.
19. In chimistry, a list or catalogue of substances or their properties; as, a table of known acids; a table of acidifiable bases; a table of binary combinations; a table of specific gravities. Lavoisier.
20. In general, any series of numbers formed on mathematical or other correct principles.
21. A division of the ten commandments; as, the first and second tables. The first table comprehends our more immediate duties to God; the second table our more immediate duties to each other.
22. Among jewelers, a table diamond or other precious stone, is one whose upper surface is quite flat, and the sides only cut in angles. Cyc.
23. A list or catalogue; as, a table of stars. Raised table, in sculpture, an embossment in a frontispiece for an inscription or other ornament, supposed to be the abacus of Vitruvius. Cyc. Round table. Knights of the round table, are a military order instituted by Arthur, the first king of the Britons, A. D. 516. Twelve tables, the laws of the Romans, so called probably, because engraved on so many tables. To turn the tables, to change the condition or fortune of contending parties; a metaphorical expression taken from the vicissitudes of fortune in gaming. Dryden. To serve tables, to provide for the poor; or to distribute provisions for their wants. Acts vi.

To board; to diet or live at the table of another. Nebuchadnezzar tabled with the beasts. South.

1. To form into a table or catalogue; as, to table fines. In England, the chirographer tables the fines of every county, and fixes a copy in some open place of the court. Cyc.
2. To board; to supply with food.
3. To let one piece of timber into another by alternate scores or projections from the middle. Cyc.

1. A smooth, flat surface, like the side of a board; a thin, flat, smooth piece of anything; a slab.
   
   

   A bagnio paved with fair tables of marble. Sandys.

2. To form into a table or catalogue] to tabulate; as, to table fines.
3. 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.
4. A thin, flat piece of wood, stone, metal, or other material, on which anything is cut, traced, written, or painted; a tablet
   
   
   ; pl.
5. To delineate, as on a table; to represent, as in a picture.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation. Bacon.

6. Any smooth, flat surface upon which an inscription, a drawing, or the like, may be produced.
   
   
   "Painted in a table plain." Spenser.

   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.

7. To supply with food; to feed.
   
   
   [Obs.] Milton.
8. 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: --

   (a) (Bibliog.)

9. To insert, as one piece of timber into another, by alternate scores or projections from the middle, to prevent slipping; to scarf.
10. 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.
    
    

    We may again
    Give to our tables meat. Shak.

    The nymph the table spread. Pope.

11. To lay or place on a table, as money.
    
    
    Carlyle.
12. Hence, food placed on a table to be partaken of; fare; entertainment; as, to set a good table.
13. 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.
14. The company assembled round a table.
    
    

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

15. To enter upon the docket; as, to table charges against some one.
16. One of the two, external and internal, layers of compact bone, separated by diploë, in the walls of the cranium.
17. To make board hems in the skirts and bottoms of (sails) in order to strengthen them in the part attached to the boltrope.
18. 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.
19. The board on the opposite sides of which backgammon and draughts are played.
    
    
    (b)
20. A circular plate of crown glass.
    
    

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

21. The upper flat surface of a diamond or other precious stone, the sides of which are cut in angles.
22. A plane surface, supposed to be transparent and perpendicular to the horizon; -- called also perspective plane.
23. The part of a machine tool on which the work rests and is fastened.
    
    

    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 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. -- 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.