What is "table"

Platen \Plat"en\, n. [F. platine, fr. plat flat. See Plate, and cf. Platin.] (Mach.)

1. The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.

2. Hence, an analogous part of a typewriter, on which the paper rests to receive an impression.

3. The movable table of a machine tool, as a planer, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool; -- also called table.

Table \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:

   1. (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.

   2. (Chem.) A list of substances and their properties; especially, the a list of the elementary substances with their atomic weights, densities, symbols, etc.

   3. (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.

   4. (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)

    1. The board on the opposite sides of which backgammon and draughts are played.

    2. One of the divisions of a backgammon board; as, to play into the right-hand table.

    3. 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 Tables of a 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; -- also called to table . It is a tactic often used with the intention of postponing consideration of a motion indefinitely, that is, to kill the motion.

    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.

late 12c., "board, slab, plate," from Old French table "board, square panel, plank; writing table; picture; food, fare" (11c.), and late Old English tabele "writing tablet, gaming table," from Germanic *tabal (cognates: Dutch tafel, Danish tavle, Old High German zabel "board, plank," German Tafel). Both the French and Germanic words are from Latin tabula "a board, plank; writing table; list, schedule; picture, painted panel," originally "small flat slab or piece" usually for inscriptions or for games (source also of Spanish tabla, Italian tavola), of uncertain origin, related to Umbrian tafle "on the board."\n

\nThe sense of "piece of furniture with the flat top and legs" first recorded c.1300 (the usual Latin word for this was mensa (see mensa); Old English writers used bord (see board (n.1)). Especially the table at which people eat, hence "food placed upon a table" (c.1400 in English). The meaning "arrangement of numbers or other figures on a tabular surface for convenience" is recorded from late 14c. (as in table of contents, mid-15c.).\n

\nFigurative phrase turn the tables (1630s) is from backgammon (in Old and Middle English the game was called tables). Table talk "familiar conversation around a table" is attested from 1560s, translating Latin colloquia mensalis. Table-manners is from 1824. Table-hopping is first recorded 1943. The adjectival phrase under-the-table "hidden from view" is recorded from 1949; to be under the table "passed out from excess drinking" is recorded from 1913. Table tennis "ping-pong" is recorded from 1887. Table-rapping in spiritualism, supposedly an effect of supernatural powers, is from 1853.

mid-15c., "enter into a list, form into a list or catalogue," also "provide with food," from table (n.). In parliamentary sense, 1718, originally "to lay on the (speaker's) table for discussion;" but in U.S. political jargon it has chiefly the sense of "to postpone indefinitely" (1866) via notion of "lay aside for future consideration." Related: Tabled; tabling.\n

n. 1 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses. 2 # An item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground, usually on one or more legs. vb. 1 To put on a table. 2 (context British Canada NZ English) To propose for discussion (from ''to put on the table''). 3 (context US English) To hold back to a later time; to postpone. 4 To tabulate; to put into a table. 5 To delineate, as on a table; to represent, as in a picture. 6 To supply with food; to feed. 7 (context carpentry English) To insert, as one piece of timber into another, by alternate scores or projections from the middle, to prevent slipping; to scarf. 8 To enter upon the docket. 9 (context nautical English) To make board hems in the skirts and bottoms of (sails) in order to strengthen them in the part attached to the bolt-rope.

1. n. a set of data arranged in rows and columns; "see table 1" [syn: tabular array]

2. a piece of furniture having a smooth flat top that is usually supported by one or more vertical legs; "it was a sturdy table"

3. a piece of furniture with tableware for a meal laid out on it; "I reserved a table at my favorite restaurant"

4. flat tableland with steep edges; "the tribe was relatively safe on the mesa but they had to descend into the valley for water" [syn: mesa]

5. a company of people assembled at a table for a meal or game; "he entertained the whole table with his witty remarks"

6. food or meals in general; "she sets a fine table"; "room and board" [syn: board]

v. hold back to a later time; "let's postpone the exam" [syn: postpone, prorogue, hold over, put over, shelve, set back, defer, remit, put off]

Table may refer to:

• Table (database)
• Table (furniture)
• Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns
• Table (landform)
• Table (parliamentary procedure)
• Tables (board game)
• Calligra Tables, a spreadsheet application
• The Table, a volcanic tuya in British Columbia, Canada
• Table, surface of the sound board (music) of a string instrument
• Al-Ma'ida, the fifth sura of the Qur'an, usually translated as “The Table”.

A table is a means of arranging data in rows and columns. The use of tables is pervasive throughout all communication, research and data analysis. Tables appear in print media, handwritten notes, computer software, architectural ornamentation, traffic signs and many other places. The precise conventions and terminology for describing tables varies depending on the context. Further, tables differ significantly in variety, structure, flexibility, notation, representation and use. In books and technical articles, tables are typically presented apart from the main text in numbered and captioned floating blocks.

In parliamentary procedure, the use of table, as a verb, has two different and contradictory meanings:

• In the United States, to "table" usually means to postpone or suspend consideration of a pending motion.
• In the rest of the English-speaking world, such as in the United Kingdom and Canada, to "table" means to begin consideration (or reconsideration) of a proposal.

Motions which use the word "table" have specific meanings and functions, depending on the parliamentary authority used. The meaning of "table" also depends on the context in which it is used.

A table is a hill, flank of a mountain, or mountain, that has a flat top.

This landform has numerous names in addition to "table", including:

• Tuya
• Tepui
• Mesa
• Potrero
• Butte
• Plateau
• Terrace
• Table
  • Table hill
  • Table-topped hill
  • Table mountain
  • Tableland

A table is an item of furniture with a flat top and one or more legs, used as a surface for working at or on which to place things. Some common types of table are the dining room table, which is used for seated persons to eat meals; the coffee table, which is a low table used in living rooms to display items or serve refreshments; and the bedside table, which is used to place an alarm clock and a lamp.

Common design elements include:

• top surfaces of various shapes, including rectangular, square, rounded or semi-circular
• legs arranged in two or more similar pairs. It usually has four legs.
• several geometries of folding table that can be collapsed into a smaller volume (e.g., a TV tray, which is a portable, folding table on a stand)
• heights ranging up and down from the most common range, often reflecting the height of chairs or bar stools used as seating for people making use of a table, as for eating or performing various manipulations of objects resting on a table
• presence or absence of drawers, shelves or other areas for storing items
• expansion of the table surface by insertion of leaves or locking hinged drop leaf sections into a horizontal position (this is particularly common for dining tables)

A table is a collection of related data held in a structured format within a database. It consists of columns, and rows.

In relational databases and flat file databases, a table is a set of data elements (values) using a model of vertical columns (identifiable by name) and horizontal rows, the cell being the unit where a row and column intersect. A table has a specified number of columns, but can have any number of rows. Each row is identified by one or more values appearing in a particular column subset. The columns subset which uniquely identifies a row is called the primary key.

"Table" is another term for "relation"; although there is the difference in that a table is usually a multiset (bag) of rows where a relation is a set and does not allow duplicates. Besides the actual data rows, tables generally have associated with them some metadata, such as constraints on the table or on the values within particular columns.

The data in a table does not have to be physically stored in the database. Views also function as relational tables, but their data are calculated at query time. External tables (in Informix or Oracle, for example)