ˈwater-ˌtable
[See table n. 12 a, 13 b, c.]
1. Arch. a. The sloping top of a plinth. b. A horizontal projecting ledge or moulding sloping on the top, set along the side of a wall so as to throw off the rainfall.
| 1428 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 5 The walle atte seid west gabilende was maad x fote in heyghte aboue the water table. 1459 in Willis & Clark Cambr. (1886) I. 309, iij fotes..from the gronde leuell to the water tabil..and the said water tabell..alle of freeston. 1482–3 Acc. Exch. K.R. 496 No. 25 Pro factura Watertable Garglez et Batilment. 1541 in Proc. Antiq. Scot. (1860) III. 161 Fra the sollis of the said queir duris to the vuer pairt of the walter tabill vnder the thak thairof. 1547 in J. R. Boyle Hedon (1875) App. 133 Item, for layinge the watter tabyll above the counsell chamer. a 1548 [see raising-piece]. 1548 Elyot's Dict., Corona..is also the water table or copyng of a wall. 1617–18 Hartland Ch. Acc. in Rep. Devonsh. Assoc. XXVII. 60 For putting in water tables of lead. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 297 The Walls of such Edifices ought to be from the Foundation to the first Water-table, three heading course of Brick,..and at every Story a Water-table, or taking in on the inside for the Summers, Girders or Joysts to rest upon. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1882 The massive buttress, with its deep weatherings, or water-tables between each graduation or stage of the height. 1878 M{supc}Vittie Ch. Ch. Cathedral, Dubl. 66 Weathered in the depth of the buttresses by nine courses of Water-tables. |
| transf. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 68 Robbing the Eyes of their natural Pent-house or Water-table, they expose them bare to imbrications. |
2. A channel or gutter on each side of a road; ‘also, a small hollow made across a road to carry off surplus water’ (Elworthy).
| 1707–21 Mortimer Husb. II. 205 A Water-Table also on each side of the Walk is very good to drain your Walks. 1809 Mavor Agric. Berks. 422 The..roads..are not sufficiently raised in the middle, the water tables are neither regularly made nor with proper outlets towards the ditches. 1817 W. H. Marshall Rev. Rep. Board Agric., South. 73 note, Water Table is a west of England term (rather ill chosen) for the draining channel, on the side of a barreled road, to convey away the rain water that may fall upon it. c 1830 Pract. Treat. Roads 9 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Outlets from the watertables into the ditches cannot be seen in too many places. 1836 W. D. Cooper Gloss. Sussex, Water-table, a small embankment made across a road, especially on a hill, to carry off the water. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 24 Sept. 4/1 Now that the local authorities have permitted footpaths by the roadside and water-tables to be obliterated. |
3. A window-ledge or sill in a ship or railway carriage.
| 1883 W. C. Russell Sailors' Lang., Water-tables, sills to a ship's windows. 1884 Stormonth, Water-tables, in a ship, the sills of the windows in the stern. 1890 Funk's Stand. Dict., Water-table, a horizontal board with beveled top, running underneath the windows, the entire length of a [railway] car. |
4. = water-bridge (see
water n. 29).
| 1880 Webster. 1891 Century Dict. |
5. = water-level 3.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 139/2 In other cases it [the water] will not rise to the surface, but form what is known as a ‘water-table’ one, two, or more feet beneath. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 567/1 At varying distances from the surface..there exists a great subterranean lake or sea, known as the ground-water or water-table. |