table 
A talnll atyret, all of triet yuer, 
Bourdnrt about all with bright Aumbur. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1065. 
Tables tinder each Light, very commodiously placed for 
Writing and Beading. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 113. 
The table at the foot of the bed was covered with a 
crimson cloth. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, il. 
3. Used absolutely, the board at or round 
which persons sit at meals; a table for refec- 
tion or entertainment: as, to set the table (to 
place the cloth and dishes on it for a meal); 
to sit long at table. 
On sundri metis be not gredi at the table. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 56. 
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, 
and serve tables. Acts vi. 2. 
You may judge . . . whether your name is not fre- 
quently bandied at table among us. 
Goldsmith, To Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
4. Figuratively (a) That which is placed 
upon a table for refreshment ; provision of food 
at meals ; refection ; fare ; also, entertainment 
at table. 
Monsieur has been forced to break off his Table three 
times this year for want of mony to buy provisions. 
Prior, in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 213. 
His table is the image of plenty and generosity. 
Steele, Tatler, No. 25. 
She always kept a very good table. 
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1m. 
(6) A company at table, as at a dinner; a group 
of persons gathered round a table, as for whist 
or other games. 
Where be ... your flashes of merriment, that were 
wont to set the table on a roar? Shalt., Hamlet, v. 1. 211. 
(c) In a limited use, a body of persons sitting, 
or regarded as sitting, round a table in some 
official capacity; an official board. The Hungarian 
Diet is divided into the Table of Magnates and the Table 
of Deputies ; in Scotland the permanent committee of Pres- 
byterians appointed to resist the encroachments of Charles 
I. was called "The Tables," and the designation has been 
used in a few other instances. 
5f. A thin plate or sheet of wood, ivory, or other 
material for writing on ; a tablet ; in the plu- 
ral, a memorandum-book. 
His felawe hadde a staf tipped with horn, 
A peyre of tables al of yvoiy, 
And a poyntel polysshed fetisly. 
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 33. 
And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying. His 
name is John. Luke i. 63. 
Grace. I saw one of you buy a pair of tables e'en now. 
Winw. Yes, here they be, and maiden ones too, unwrit- 
ten in. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv. 2. 
6. A flat or plane surface like that of a table ; 
a level area ; a plateau. 
Great part of the earth's surface consists of strata which 
still lie undisturbed in their original horizontal position. 
These parts are called tables by Suess. 
Philos. Mag., XXVII. 409. 
Specifically (at) A level plot of ground ; a garden-bed, or 
the like. 
Mark oute thi tables, ichon by hem selve, 
Sixe foote in brede and XII in length is best 
To dense and make on evry side honest. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 30. 
(b) In persp., same as perspective plane. See perspective, 
n. (c) In arch. : (1) A flat surface forming a distinct fea- 
ture in a wall, generally rectangular and charged with 
some ornamental design or figure. When it projects be- 
yond the general surface of the wall, it is termed a raised 
Table over a Door, Falace of Saint Cloud, France. 
or projecting table; when it is not perpendicular to the ho- 
rizon, it is called a raking table ; and when the surface is 
rough, frosted, or vermiculated, it is called a rusticated 
table. (2) A horizontal molding on the exterior or inte- 
rior face of a wall, placed at various levels, which crowns 
basements, separates the stories of a building, or its upper 
parts ; a string-course. 
Ande eft a ful huge hejt hit haled vpon lofte, 
Of harde hewen ston vp to the tablez, 
Enbaned vnder the abataylment. 
Sir Gawayne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 789. 
(d) In palmistry, the inner surface of the hand ; especial- 
ly, the space within certain lines of the palm, considered 
in relation to indications of character or fortune. 
In this table 
Lies your story ; 'tis no fable, 
Not a line within your hand 
But I easily understand. 
Shirley, Love Tricks, v. 1. 
(c) In diamond-nMiny : (1) A stone (usually a cleavage- 
piece) that is polished flat on both sides, is either square, 
6148 
oblong, triangular, round, or oval in form, and hns a bor- 
der of one or more rows of square or triangular facets. 
(2) The large flat facet on the top of a brilliant-cut stone. 
See brilliant (with cut). 
If but slightly ground down it [a diamond] is called a 
deep table, or more expressively in French a clou. 
G. C. M. Binheood, Indian Arts, II. 30. 
7. Something inscribed, depicted, or performed 
on a table, or arranged on a tabular surface or 
in tabular form : as, the two tables of the law 
(the decalogue). Specifically (at) A painting, or a 
picture of any kind. 
The table wherin detraction was expressed was paynted 
in this forme. Sir T. Khjot, The Governour, iii. 27. 
He has a strange aspect, 
And looks much like-the figure of a hangman 
In a table of the Passion. 
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv. 2. 
(M) pi. The game of backgammon. See def. 1 (a). 
For me thoghte it better play 
Than playe either at chesse or table*. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 51. 
Monsieur the nice, 
That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice. 
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 326. 
I walked ... to my Lord Brouncker s, and there staid 
awhile, they being at tables. Pepys, Diary, II. 297. 
Hence 8. An arrangement of written words, 
numbers, or signs, or of combinations of them, 
in a series of separate lines or columns ; a 
formation of details in relation to any subject 
arranged in horizontal, perpendicular, or some 
other definite order, in such manner that the 
several particulars are distinctly exhibited to 
the eye, each by itself: as, chronological to- 
Wes; "astronomical tables; tables of weights or 
measures; the multiplication table; insurance 
ftibles. 
A table is said to be of single or double entry according 
as there are one or two arguments. For example, a table 
of logarithms is a table of single entry, the numbers being 
the arguments and the logarithms the tabular results ; an 
ordinary multiplication table is a table of double entry, giv- 
ing xy as tabular result for z and y as arguments. 
Encye. Brit., XXIII. 7. 
9. A synoptical statement or series of state- 
ments ; a concise presentation of the details of 
a subject ; a list of items or particulars. 
In this brief Table is set down the punishment appointed 
for the offenders, the discommodities that happen to the 
realm by the said contempt. 
Privy Council (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 300). 
It was as late as 1667 that Evelyn presented to the Royal 
Society, as a wonderful curiosity, the Table of Veins, Ar- 
teries, and Nerves which he had caused to be made in Italy. 
J. Ashlon, Social Life hi Reign of Queen Anne, II. 100. 
10+. A doctrine or tenet, especially one regard- 
ed as of divine origin or authority. 
God's eternal decree of predestination, absolute repro- 
bation, and such fatal tables, they form to their own ruin. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 654. 
11. Milit., in some shells, as the shrapnel, the 
contracted part of the eye next the interior, 
as distinct from the larger part next the ex- 
terior. 12f. Kecks., same as frontal, 5 (b). 
Alphonsine tables. See Alphonsiiie. American Ex- 
perience Table, a table of mortality, based on the ex- 
perience of American insurers of lives, in which the num- 
bers of living and dying at each age (in years) from 10 to 
95, out of 100,000 persons, and the consequent expectation 
of life, are stated. It has been sanctioned by law as a 
basis for official valuations in a majority of the United 
States, including New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and 
other leading States. Antilogarithmic table. See an- 
Hlogarithmic. Argument of a table. Same as boxing 
of a table. Boxing Of a table, the words, figures, or signs 
on one or both sides and over the columns of a mathe- 
matical, statistical, or similar table, intended to indicate 
or explain the nature of its contents. Also called argu- 
ment of a table. 
The use of miscellaneous in the boxing of this table re- 
quires a word of explanation. 
ZdAnn. Hep. Interstate Com. Commission, p. 271. 
Carlisle Table, a table of the value or expectation of 
single and of joint lives, of each age (in years), as deduced 
from the register of mortality of Carlisle, England. It was 
formerly used in life insurance and for the calculation of 
annuities, and is still used by the courts in some jurisdic- 
tions as the basis of determining the value of life estates, 
etc. Combined Experience Table, a table of mortality 
based on the combined experience of a number of insur- 
ance companies. It has been sanctioned for official valua- 
tions in Massachusetts and (after the end of 1891) in Cali- 
fornia. Conversion table, in math., a table for convert- 
ing measures from one system of units to another, or a table 
for changing measures expressed in one system of units 
into their numerical equivalent in another system of units. 
Dichotomous table, or dichotomic synoptical ta- 
ble. See dichotomous. Dormant tablet. See dormant. 
Eugubine or Iguvine tables. See Eugubine. Framed 
table, a table of which the supporting members are 
firmly held together by framing : thus, the heavy standing 
tables of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have 
their legs braced together at the bottom by massive rails, 
the whole forming a frame of some elaborateness. Gipsy, 
glacier, high table. See the qualifying words. Green 
table. Same as green cloth (which see, under greeni). 
Holy table. Same as the Lord's table. I&ia,c table. See 
Isiae. Lower table. Same as culet, 2. Lunar tables. 
See lunar. Meteorological table. See meteorological. 
table 
Moving table, in machines for grinding sheet-glass, 
a large rectangular paneled frame, working horizontally, 
and pivoted centrally to an oscillating arm which has at 
the other end a fixed bearing. It receives motion from 
a crank and pitman, the latter being pivoted to the mov- 
ing table at a considerable distance from the first-named 
pivot. This arrangement produces a motion of the table 
analogous to that of hand-rubbing. The moving table is 
weighted on the upper side, and faced on the under side 
with slate, and it works over a large flat bed.. In use, a 
plate of glass is cemented to the slate face of the mov- 
ing table and another to the bed. The upper plate is 
then rubbed upon the lower, the grinding commencing 
with the use of coarse emery. This is succeeded by the 
use of finer grades. The final polishing is done by an- 
other process. Multiplication table. See multiplica- 
tion. Northampton Table, a table of the value or ex- 
pectation of single and of joint lives, at each age (in 
years), as deduced from the parish register of All Saints, 
in Northampton, England. It was formerly used in life 
insurance and for the calculation of annuities, and is 
still used by the courts in some jurisdictions as the basis 
of determining the value of life estates, etc. Occasion- 
al, ordinary table. See the adjectives. Pedestal ta- 
ble, a table the slab or top of which is supported by one 
or more solid-looking pedestals, which are generally cup- 
boards, the doors of which form their fronts: these are 
usually two in number. Pembroke table, a table the 
top of which is divided into a fixed central part and two 
leaves, which are hinged to the sides of the fixed part and 
made to be folded down, so that the table may take up 
but little room when not in use. The leaves, when raised, 
were supported originally by a sort of frame, swinging on a 
hinge or on pivots, and with a leg reaching the floor, thus 
making an additional leg of the table for each of the 
leaves. For this movable frame a hinged or sliding bracket 
is now often substituted. Pillar-and-claw table.a ta- 
ble with a central support like a pillar, to the top of which 
the slab or top of the table is usually hinged : the pillar 
rests on three, four, or more feet, originally carved to repre- 
sent the paws and claws of animals. Pythagorean ta- 
ble. See Pythagorean. noraiCi table, (a) A circular ta- 
ble around which persons of unequal rank formerly sat at 
meals on special occasions, in order that social discrimina- 
tions might be set aside for the time : in distinction from 
the ordinary long table, at which comparative rank was 
indicated by the distance of the guest's seat from the top 
or head, or above or below the salt. (6) A body of knights 
fabled to have been brought together by King Arthur 
Pendragon to defend Christian England and Wales against 
the heathen Saxony. This legendary order of Knights of 
the Bound Table was imitated in later times by associa- 
tions of participants in justs or tournaments. 
Than be gan the stour so merveilouse and fierce more 
that it hadde ben of all the day at the enterynge of the 
yates of Torayse, be-twene the knyghtes of the rounde 
table and the knyghtes that were newe a-dubbed. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 460. 
Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere : 
"Ah! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go? . . 
But now the whole Round Table is dissolved 
Which was an image of the mighty world. " 
Tennyson, Passing of Arthur. 
Sexagenary table. See sexagenary. Skew table, (a) 
See skewi. (b) The first stone at the side of a gable, serv- 
ing as an abutment for the coping. Also called summer- 
stone and skew-corbel. Standing table. See standing. 
Synoptical table. See synoptical. Table dormantt. 
Same as dormant table. Table Of cases, in law-books, an 
alphabetical list of the names of cases cited in the work as 
precedents, with references to the page or section where 
mentioned ; an index of such precedents. Table of con- 
tents. See content^, n. Table of degrees. See forbid- 
den degrees, under degree. Table Of Pythagoras. Same 
as Pythagorean table. Tables of expectancy. See ex- 
pectance. Tables of the law, tables of the covenant, 
tables of the testimony, or the two tables, the tables 
of stone upon which the ten commandments were graven, 
and which were preserved in the ark of the covenant ; 
hence, the decalogue. The first four commandments are 
often called the first table and the remaining six the second 
table. 
The two tables, or ten commandments, teach our dutie 
to God and our neighbour from the love of both. 
Milton, Civil Power. 
Tables Of the Skull. See def. 1 (b), skidli, and tablature, 
5. Tables Toletanes. See Tfdletan tables, under Tol- 
letan.-1a.Vie tipping or turning. See table-tipping. 
The Lord's table. () The table on which the sacra- 
mental elements are placed at the time of the celebration 
of the communion. Also called the communion-table, the 
holy table (as in the Greek Church), and the altar (as in the 
Roman Catholic, Anglican, and some other churches), (b) 
By metonymy, the Lord's Supper, or communion, itself. 
Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the 
table of devils. 1 Cor. x. 21. 
The ancient writers used both names [holy table, altar] 
indifferently, some calling it altar; others, the Lord's ta- 
ble, the holy table, the mystical table, the tremendous 
table, &c., and sometimes, both table and altar in the 
same sentence together. Bingham, Antiquities, viii. 6. 
To fence the tables. See fence. To go to the table, 
to receive the communion. Hallimll. [Prov. Eng.] 
To lay on or upon the table, in legislative and other 
deliberative bodies, to lay aside by vote indefinitely, as a 
proposed measure or resolution, with the effect of leaving 
it subject to being called up or renewed at any subsequent 
time allowable under the rules. To lie on the table, to 
be laid on the table. To turn the tables, to bring about 
a complete reversal or inversion of circumstances or rela- 
tions ; make a summary overturn or subversion of posi- 
tions or conditions, as in a game of chance : as, to turn the 
tables upon a person in argument (that is, to turn his own 
argument against him). 
If it be thus, the tables would be turned upon me ; but I 
should only fail in my vain attempt. Dryden. 
They that are honest would be arrant knaves, if the 
tables were turned. Sir R. ' ' " 
