tabler 
tablert (ta'bler), a. [< ME. tablere, a chess- 
board, < OK. tublier, a boarder, a chess-board, 
< L. tabularius, in., used only in the sense of 
'public notary, 'ML. tabularium, neut., a chess- 
board, prop, adj., < L. tabula, a table: see table, 
and cf . htbulury.'] 1 . One who tables or boards ; 
a boarder. 2. One who keeps boarders. 
But he now is come 
To be the music-master ; tattler, too ; 
He is. or would be, the main Dominus Do-all of the work. 
B. Jonson, Expostulation with Inigo Jones. 
3. A chess-board. 
table-rapping (ta'bl-rap'ing), n. In spiritual- 
ism, the production of raps, ticks, or similar 
sharp sounds on a table by no apparent physical 
or material agency: supposed by spiritualists 
to be a method by which the spirits of the dead 
communicate with the living. 
table-rent (ta'bl-rent), n. In old Eng. law, rent 
paid to a bishop, etc., reserved and appropri- 
ated to his table or housekeeping. 
table-roomt (ta'bl-rom), n. Boom or place at 
table ; opportunity for eating. 
I get good cloths 
Of those that dread my humour, and for table-roome 
I feed on those that cannot be rid of me. 
Tourneur, Kevenger's Tragedy, iv. 2. 
tablest, n. pi. See table, 7 (6). 
table-saw (ta'bl-sa), . A small saw fitted to 
a table, and worked by treadle mechanism. It 
may be either of the scroll-saw type, or a circu- 
lar saw, more commonly the former. 
table-service (ta'bl-ser"vis), . See service^. 
table-shore (ta'bl-shor), n. Naut., a low, level 
shore. [Bare.] 
table-song (ta'bl-song), . A part-song, such 
as is sung in a German liedertafel. Compare 
table-music. 
table-spar (ta'bl-spiir), n. Tabular spar. See 
wollastonite. 
table-spoon (ta'bl-spon), n. A spoon, larger 
than a teaspoon or dessert-spoon, used in the 
service of the table. 
table-spoonful (ta'bl-sp6n"ful), n. [< table- 
spoon + -ful.'] As much as a table-spoon will 
hold; as a customary measure, half a fluid- 
ounce, being of about twice the capacity of a 
dessert-spoon, and four times that of a tea- 
spoon. 
table-sportt (ta'bl- sport), n. An object of 
amusement at table; thebuttofatable. [Rare.] 
If I find not what I seek, show no colour for my extrem- 
ity ; let me for ever be your table-sport. 
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 2. 169. 
tablet (tab'let), . [Early mod. E. also tablette 
(so also in some recent uses, after mod. F.); 
< ME. tablett, tablette, < OF. (and F.) tablette = 
Pr. tauleta = Sp. tableta = Pg. taboleta = It. 
tavoletta, < ML. tabuleta, dim. of L. tabula, a 
board, plank, table, tablet: see table.] 1. A 
Tablet beneath Cinerary Urn. Columbarium near the Porta S. 
Sebastiano, Rome. 
small flat slab or piece, especially one intended 
to receive an inscription. 
Everyche of hem berethe a Tablett of Jaspere or of Ivory 
Maudeville, Travels, p. 234. 
Through all Greece the young gentlemen learned 
to design upon tablets of boxen wood. 
Dryden, tr. of Dufreanoy's Art of Painting. 
2. A panel or medallion built in or hung on a 
wall, usually as a memorial or a votive tablet. 
The Pillar'd Marble and the Tablet Brass, 
Mould'ring, drop the Victor's Praise. 
Prior, Carmen Seculare, st. 13. 
6150 
3. One of a set of laminee, leaves, or sheets of 
some thin inflexible material for writing; in 
the plural, the set as a whole. Ancient tablets con- 
sisted of smooth plates of beech or other wood, or of ivory 
or the like, covered with a thin layer of wax, protected by 
raised edges, hinged together by wire, and written upon 
with a style. They were used for correspondence, ac- 
counts, legal documents, etc. In modern times tablets 
of ivory or similar material, pivoted together at one end 
and carried in the pocket, are much used for penciled 
memoranda. 
Demaratus took a pair of tablets, and, clearing the wax 
away from them, wrote what the king was purposing to 
do upon the wood whereof the tablets were made ; having 
done this, he spread the wax once more over the writing, 
and so sent it. 
Herodotus, History (tr. by Rawlinson, IV. 187). 
4. A small flat or flattish cake of some solidi- 
fied substance: as, a tablet of chocolate or of 
bouillon. Sometimes written tablette. 
It hath been anciently received . . . and it is yet in use 
to wear . . . tablets of arsenick as preservatives against 
the plague. Bacon, Nat. Hist., 970. 
Some tablettes of grated cocoa candied in liquid sugar. 
Harper's Mag., LXXX. 230. 
5. In med., a certain weight or measure of a 
solid drug, brought by pressure, or the addition 
of a little gum, into a shape (generally that of 
a disk) convenient for administration: as, char- 
coal tablets; compressed tablets of chlorate of 
potassa. 6. The final member in a wall, con- 
sisting of slabs of cut stone projecting slightly 
beyond the face of the wall for its protection or 
shelter; a horizontal capping or coping, as the 
border course of a reservoir. 
The crowning tablet or fillet [of an Egyptian pylon or 
portico) is quite plain and unornamented. 
At4M.JML.ILMk 
7. In anat. and zool., a table or tabula : as, the 
inner and outer tablets of a cranial bone. See 
tablature, 5, and table, n., 1 (6). [For the word 
tablets, occurring thrice in the authorized version of the 
Bible, the revised version substitutes armlets in Ex. xxxv. 
22 and Num. jcxxi. 50, with the alternative "or necklaces "in 
the latter, and both perfume boxes and amulets in Isa. iii. 
20.] Votive tablet, a panel or slab with an inscription, 
painting, or relief, serving as a memorial of the occasion 
of a vow, and offered as a fulfilment or partial fulfilment 
of it. 
tablet (tab'let), v. t. and i. [< tablet, .] To 
form into a tablet, or make tablets, in some 
technical sense. 
A formula for the preparation of liquid glue tortableting 
purposes which can be applied cold and which will retain 
its elasticity. Set. Amer., N. S., LXI. 363. 
table-talk (ta'bl-tak), . Familiar conversa- 
tion at or around a table, as at a meal or an 
entertainment; what is said in the free inter- 
course between persons during or after meals. 
Collections of the conversation of distinguished men at 
such times have been published under the title "Table- 
Talk." 
table-talker (ta'bl-ta"k6r), n. A person given 
to talking at table ; one distinguished for his 
table-talk; a conversationist. Imp. Diet. 
table-tipping (ta'bl-tip'ing), . The act of 
turning or moving a table by no apparent ade- 
quate physical or mechanical force ; table-mov- 
ing; table-turning. 
table-tomb (ta'bl-tom), n. In the Roman cata- 
combs, a rectangular recess in a gallery, par- 
allel with the passageway, containing a burial- 
chest of stone or masonry with a flat cover. 
The name is also given to other tombs, of any age or 
people, which bear some resemblance to a table. Com- 
pare altar-tomb. 
In the table-tomb the recess above, essential for the in- 
troduction of the corpse, is square, while in the arcoao- 
lium, a form of later date, it is semi-circular. 
Encyc. Brit., V. 209. 
table-topped (ta'bl-topt), a. Topped with a 
plane surface ; having a tabular or level top. 
The surface is generally level, diversified here and there 
by isolated mountains, conical or table-topped. 
L. Hamilton, Mexican Handbook, p. 20. 
table-tree (ta'bl-tre), . In mec)i., a horizon- 
tal plate of iron or wood, mounted on an iron 
stem fitting into the socket of a lathe-rest, 
and adjustable with respect to height and dis- 
tance. 
A miniature lathe-head mounted on a wooden table-tree. 
0. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 63. 
tablette (tab'let), w. [Seeta&W.] 1. See tablet. 
2. In fort., a flat coping-stone placed at the 
top of the revetment of the escarp to protect 
the masonry from the weather, and to serve as 
an obstacle to scaling-ladders. 
table-turning (ta'bl-ter"ning), n. Same as 
table-tipping. 
tableware (ta'bl-war), . Ware for use at 
table ; the articles collectively which may be 
put upon the table for the service of meals. 
taboo 
tablewise (tii'bl-wiz), adv. In the manner of a 
table. In the period of the Reformation in England this 
word was used to signify 'with the ends east and west,' 
said of the Lord's table when so placed in the body of the 
church or chancel. Opposed to altanvise. 
table-work (ta'bl-werk), n. In i>rinting, the 
setting of tables; specifically, work done in 
such narrow columns, usually with figures, as 
to call for extra compensation under an estab- 
lished scale. Also called tabular work. 
tablier (ta-bli-a'), . [P., an apron; < table, ta- 
ble : see table . ] An apron ; specifically, in Eng- 
lish use, a small apron or apron-like part in a 
woman's dress. Compare en tabli* r, 
The full-length figure of a patriotic lady in a tri-coloured 
fichu and tablier. Fortnightly Ret., N. 8., XLII. 292. 
tablina, ._ Plural of tablinum. 
tabling (ta'bling), n. [Verbal n. of table, v.~\ 
1. Same as tabulation. [Rare.] 2. In arch., 
a coping. See table, 6 (c). 3. In ship-carp., a 
coak or tenon on the scarfed face of a timber, 
designed to occupy a counterpart recess or mor- 
tise in the chamfered face of a timber to which 
it is attached. E. H. Knight. 4. In sail-mak- 
ing, a broad hem made on the edges of sails by 
turning over the edge of the canvas and sewing 
it down. 5. In com., linen for table-cloths. 
Draper's Diet. 6f. The act of playing at the 
game of tables. 7f. Board; maintenance. 
My daughter hath there alreadie now of me ten poundes, 
which I account to be given for her tabling; after this ten 
poundes will follow another for her apparele. 
Terence in English (1614). (If ares.) 
8. In anat., tablature Head-tabling, in sail- 
making, the tabling at the head of a sail. See def. 4. 
Tabling of fines, in old Eng. law, the forming of the 
fines for every county into a table or catalogue, giving the 
details of each fine passed in any one term. 
tabling-dent (ta'bling-den), n. Same as ta- 
blin(/-hoitse, 1. 
The towns were flooded with tippling-houses, bowling- 
alleys, tabling-dens, and each haunt of vicious dissipation. 
//. Hall, Society in Elizabethan Age, viii. 
tabling-houset (ta'bling-hous), . 1. A house 
where gaming-tables were kept. 
They alledge that there is none but common game-houses 
and tabling-houses that are condemned, and not the playing 
sometimes in their owne private houses. 
Xorthbrooke, Against Dicing (1577). (Nares.) 
2. A boarding-house. 
tablinum (tab-H'num), n. ; pi. tablina (-na). [L. 
tablinum, tabitlinum, a balcony, terrace, also as 
in def., < tabula, board, tablet: see table.'] In 
Horn, antiq., a recess or an apartment in a house 
in which the family archives, recorded upon 
tablets, were kept and the hereditary statues 
placed. It was situated at the further end of 
the atrium, opposite the door leading into the 
hall or vestibule. 
tabloid (tab'loid), n. [< table + -oid.~\ A tab- 
let; a small troche, usually administered by 
the mouth, or, after solution, hypodermically. 
[Recent.] 
taboo, tabu (ta-bo''), a. and n. [Also tamboo, 
tambii, and tapu; = F. tabou = Dan. tabu; < 
Polynesian, Marquesas Islands, etc., tapu, for- 
bidden, interdicted ; as a noun, interdict, ta- 
boo.] I. a. Among the Polynesians and other 
races of the South Pacific, separated or set apart 
either as forbidden or as sacred ; placed under 
ban or prohibition ; consecrated either to exclu- 
sion or avoidance or to special use, regard, or 
service; hence, in English use, forbidden; in- 
terdicted. 
II. n. 1. Among the Polynesians and other 
races of the South Pacific, a system, practice, 
or act whereby persons, things, places, actions, 
or words are or may be placed under a ban, 
curse, or prohibition, or set apart as sacred or 
privileged in some specific manner, usually with 
very severe penalties for infraction. Taboo rests 
primarily upon religious sanctions, but is also a civil insti- 
tution ; and a taboo may be applied in various ways by a 
ariest or a chief, or even sometimes by a private person, 
lough with limited effect. Some taboos are permanently 
established, especially those affecting women ; a special 
taboo may affect any of the relations or doings of life, or 
any subject animate or inanimate, either permanently or 
for a fixed period. As an institution, taboo has ceased or 
is dying out in most of the regions mentioned, through 
European influence; but both the principle and the prac- 
tice have existed or still exist to some extent, under dif- 
ferent names, among primitive peoples generally. 
Women, up till this 
Cramp'd under worse than Sonth-sea-isle taboo. 
Tennyson, Princess, iii. 
Hence 2. A prohibitory or restraining in junc- 
tion or demonstration; restraint or exclusion, 
as from social intercourse or from use, imposed 
by some controlling influence ; ban ; prohibi- 
tion ; ostracism : as, to put a person or a thing 
under lalmo. See the verb. 
