1. A flat-surfaced piece of furniture normally with legs, around which people may sit to eat or to share a meal: Joan said, "Rebekah, please set the dining room table with the good china dishes."
2. A piece of furniture, typically used for placing small objects on: A clock radio was on a little table by the bed.
3. The display of food for a meal: The country squire had a big house and a bountiful table.
4. A chart upon which information is displayed: The math book contained a multiplication table.
5. A list of materials or information contained in a document, often preceding the main body of the document: Find chapter three in the book by looking in the table of contents.
6. Etymology: from Latin tabula, "board, writing tablet, picture; other words; such as, "tablet" (writing pad) and "tableau" (vivid or graphic description) have become a part of English.

The term "tablet" picked up the additional sense of "flat pill" in Elizabethan times. From Tabloid, approximately a 100-year-old trademark for a tablet of condensed medications, we inherited the word "tabloid", a newspaper of small format giving the news in condensed form; usually, with illustrated, often sensational material; so called, because of its condensed publication format.

To postpone or to put off for consideration at another time: The committee tabled the proposal until a later meeting.

Jim and Janice were tabling their trip until there was better weather.

1. A complete meal with selected courses plus a few other options of food that are offered at a set price: At the restaurant where Jim and Mary were, there was a delicious table d'hote which was not very expensive!
2. The lunch or dinner provided for everyone at a specific time and at a fixed amount: At the guest house where Ingrid and Joe were staying during their vacation, a table d'hote was served by the hosting family and all the guests sat at one table and chatted about the nice countryside.
3. Etymology: a French phrase that literally means "the host's table" or "the table of the host".

The term is used to denote a table that is set aside for residents of a guesthouse, who presumably sit at the same table as their host.

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The upper level of a saturated area of soil and rock, where it meets unsaturated soil and rock below it: Water tables tend to be higher under elevated zones and lower under valleys; they may be at the surface as in the case of swamps, or thousands of feet down in reservoirs under deserts.

In dry seasons, the water table may drop several feet in some areas before rising again during the next wet season.