1. 1. An article of furniture supported by one or more vertical legs and having a flat horizontal surface.
   2. The objects laid out for a meal on this article of furniture.
2. The food and drink served at meals; fare: kept an excellent table.
3. The company of people assembled around a table, as for a meal.
4. Games. A piece of furniture serving as a playing surface, as for faro, roulette, or dice. Often used in the plural.
5. Games.
   1. Either of the leaves of a backgammon board.
   2. tables Obsolete. The game of backgammon.
6. A plateau or tableland.
7. 1. A flat facet cut across the top of a precious stone.
   2. A stone or gem cut in this fashion.
8. Music.
   1. The front part of the body of a stringed instrument.
   2. The sounding board of a harp.
9. Architecture.
   1. A raised or sunken rectangular panel on a wall.
   2. A raised horizontal surface or continuous band on an exterior wall; a stringcourse.
10. A part of the human palm framed by four lines, analyzed in palmistry.
11. An orderly arrangement of data, especially one in which the data are arranged in columns and rows in an essentially rectangular form.
12. An abbreviated list, as of contents; a synopsis.
13. An engraved slab or tablet bearing an inscription or a device.
14. Anatomy. The inner or outer flat layer of bones of the skull separated by the diploe.
15. tables A system of laws or decrees; a code: the tables of Moses.

1. To put or place on a table.
2. To postpone consideration of (a piece of legislation, for example); shelve.
3. To enter in a list or table; tabulate.

on the table

1. Up for discussion: Her new offer is on the table.
2. Put aside for consideration at a later date.

1. In secret.
2. Into a completely intoxicated state: drank themselves under the table.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tabula, board.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.