1. [n]  a piece of furniture having a smooth flat top supported by one or more vertical legs; "it was a sturdy table"
2. [n]  a piece of furniture with tableware for a meal laid out on it; "I reserved a table at my favorite restaurant"
3. [n]  food or meals in general; "she sets a fine table"; "room and board"
4. [n]  a set of data arranged in rows and columns; "see table 1"
5. [n]  a company of people assembled at a table for a meal or game; "he entertained the whole table with his witty remarks"
6. [n]  flat tableland with steep edges; "the tribe was relatively safe on the mesa but they had to descend into the valley for water"
7. [v]  hold back to a later time; "let's postpone the exam"

1. \Ta"ble\, 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.
            A bagnio paved with fair tables of marble. --Sandys.
   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.
            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.
            And stand there with your tables to glean The golden
            sentences.                            --Beau. & Fl.
   3. 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.
   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:
      (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.
      (b) (Chem.) A list of substances and their properties;
          especially, a list of the elementary substances with
          their atomic weights, densities, symbols, etc.
      (c) (Mach.) 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, etc.
      (d) (Palmistry) The arrangement or disposition of the
          lines which appear on the inside of the hand.
                Mistress of a fairer table Hath not history for
                fable.                            --B. Jonson.
   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.
            We may again Give to our tables meat. --Shak.
            The nymph the table spread.           --Pope.
   6. Hence, food placed on a table to be partaken of; fare;
      entertainment; as, to set a good table.
   7. The company assembled round a table.
            I drink the general joy of the whole table. --Shak.
   8. (Anat.) One of the two, external and internal, layers of
      compact bone, separated by diplo["e], in the walls of the
      cranium.
   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}.
   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.
                 This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice,
                 That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice.
                                                  --Shak.
   11. (Glass Manuf.) A circular plate of crown glass.
             A circular plate or table of about five feet
             diameter weighs on an average nine pounds. --Ure.
   12. (Jewelry) The upper flat surface of a diamond or other
       precious stone, the sides of which are cut in angles.
   13. (Persp.) A plane surface, supposed to be transparent and
       perpendicular to the horizon; -- called also {perspective
       plane}.
   14. (Mach.) 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.
   

2. \Ta"ble\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tableed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Tableing}.]
   1. To form into a table or catalogue; to tabulate; as, to
      table fines.
   2. To delineate, as on a table; to represent, as in a
      picture. [Obs.]
            Tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation.
                                                  --Bacon.
   3. To supply with food; to feed. [Obs.] --Milton.
   4. (Carp.) To insert, as one piece of timber into another, by
      alternate scores or projections from the middle, to
      prevent slipping; to scarf.
   5. To lay or place on a table, as money. --Carlyle.
   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.
   7. To enter upon the docket; as, to table charges against
      some one.
   8. (Naut.) To make board hems in the skirts and bottoms of
      (sails) in order to strengthen them in the part attached
      to the boltrope.
   

3. \Ta"ble\, 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.
   

A collection of records in a relational database.