tabling, vbl. n.
(ˈteɪblɪŋ)
[f. table v. and n. + -ing1.]
1. The action of setting down or entering in a table; tabulation. Now rare.
| c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 361 To her settyng hygher or lower,..tabulyng and assygnementes, alle owe redyly to obey. 1561 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 179 Without ony continuatioun, dyet or tabling of uther summondis. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Tabling of Fines, is the making of a table for euery countie, where his Maiesties writ runneth, conteining the contents of euery fine, that shall passe in any one terme [etc.]. 1624 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 30/2 An Act concerning the fees to be taken in cities, boroughs, towns, &c., and the tabling thereof. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot., Tabling of a Summons. At the institution of the College of Justice (1537), there was appointed a table, in which were set down all summonses, to be called in their turns. |
† 2. Playing at ‘tables’ or backgammon. Cf. tabler2 1. Obs.
| 1553 Ord. Voy. Cathay in Hakl. (1886) III. 19 Neither dicing, carding, tabling, nor other divilish games to be frequented. 1583 Babington Command. iv. (1599) 166, I require..that..they better weigh whether carding, dising, and tabling..be exercises commanded of God for the sabaoth day or no. 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 411 Vsurie, carding, tabling and such like. |
3. The action of providing or fact of being provided with meals; provision of food; boarding, board. Cf. table v. 2. Now rare or Obs.
| a 1553 in Cole Hen. VIII's Scheme Bishopricks (1838) 117 Borde and tabelyng frely in the late Monasterie to one scole⁓master. 1587 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 142 To spend their time in large tabling and bellie cheere. a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes ii. xxxiv. (1640) 165 He would have left the matter of his tabling to him. 1725 Postmaster 16 Apr. 6 Lodgings, furnish'd or unfurnish'd, with good Tabling or without. 1830 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1858) II. 154 note, You can have a bed and tabling here. |
4. Material for table-cloths; table-linen. (Cf. bedding.)
| 1640 in Entick London (1766) II. 167 Diaper for tabling. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. II. 347, 10281 Yards Diaper Tabling, at 2s. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 131 Diaper Tabling, of the manufacture of Silesia. |
5. Tables collectively; accommodation of tables.
| 1892 Gard. Chron. 27 Aug. 254/3 The length of tabling filled with products must have reached fully half a mile. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 21 Mar. 8/1 Supposing we had to put up tabling, the capacity of the hall would be reduced at once from 3,000 to 800. |
6. Arch. The making of a ‘table’ or horizontal projecting course (see table n. 12 a); concr. such a course itself; spec. a coping.
| 1411 in J. R. Boyle Hedon (1875) App. 168 In ij. bussellis calcis emptis pro dictis fenestris et pro tabelyng de les wykes ibidem, iiij. d. 1671 in Holmes Pontefract Bk. Entries (1882) 103 Item, for corbells, rigginge and tableinge 1. 13. 4. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 21 There was the corbel tabling, showing the old height. 1876 Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss., Tabling, a term used by the Scotch builders to denote the coping of the walls of very common houses. |
7. Carpentry and Shipbuilding. See table v. 6, and quots.
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 11 Tabling is the uniting of pieces together in a manner similar to the chain-coak, but broader. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 155 Tabling, letting one piece of timber into another by alternate scores or projections from the middle, so that they cannot be drawn asunder either lengthwise or sidewise. |
8. Sail-making. A broad hem made at the edge of a sail to strengthen it: see table v. 7.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Tabling, bander, a sort of broad hem formed on the skirts and bottoms of a ship's sails, to strengthen them in that part which is attached to the bolt-rope. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 89. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 11 Tabling, the double part of a sail, close to the bolt-rope. |
9. In hedging: see quot., and cf. table n. 13 c.
| 1843 J. Smith Forest Trees 24 Give the hedge what is called a tabling, that is to collect the earth..that has been taken away from the roots,..and place it again in its original position. |
10. Anat. = tablature 5.
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
11. attrib., as † tabling-den, a low-class gaming-house; † tabling school, a boarding-school.
| 1886 H. Hall Soc. Eliz. Age viii. 105 The towns were flooded with tippling-houses, bowling-alleys, tabling-dens. 1660 C. Hoole New Disc. Old Art Teaching Schoole vi. 282 The shutting of children up..into a dark room, and depriving them of a meals meat, or the like (which are used in some Tabling Schools)..cannot be commendably..used in our greater Schooles. |