▪ I. † ˈtabler1 Obs.
Also 4 tablere, 5 tabelere.
[In sense 1, a. OF. tablier (12–13th c. in Godef.) = L. tabulārium, in one of its mediæval senses, f. tabula table: cf. table n. 4.]
1. A backgammon board; hence, the game of backgammon or ‘tables’. Also, a chess-board.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1041 To pley at þe ches or at þe tablere. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 247 Wiþinne a monþe he miȝt se to pleie at þe tabler. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17272 Squar as ys a Tabler. 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 626/13 Scaccarium checure, alea tabelere, decius dyce. 1474 Caxton Chesse iv. i. (1883) 161 Wherfore y{supt} ther ben in the tabler as many poynts wyde as ben full. |
2. (? A table-cloth or a towel: med.L. tablerium.)
| 1392 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 178 Graunsom bastard pro j tabler per ipsum empt' ibidem pro domino, xij scot. 1393 Ibid. 281 Pro iiij lb. cotoni et j matte..pro j tablerio. |
▪ II. tabler2
(ˈteɪblə(r))
[f. table n. and v. + -er: in sense 1 = OF. tableour; in other senses = OF. tablier.]
† 1. A player at backgammon. Cf. tabling vbl. n. 2. Obs.
| 1561 Bp. Parkhurst Injunctions 19 Dycers, tablers, carders, swearers or vehemently suspected therof. 1571 Grindal Injunctions §23 Rem. (Parker Soc.) 130 Nor any of you shall be..a hunter, hawker, dicer, carder, tabler. |
† 2. Rendering Gr. τραπεζίτης, a money-changer.
| c 1550 Cheke Matt. xxv. 27 You schold yeerfoor haav put out mi moni to y⊇ tablers. |
3. a. One who gets his meals at another's table for payment; = boarder 1. Obs. or rare.
| 1598 Florio Ital. Dict., Comensale, a fellow boorder, a fellowe commoner, a fellow tabler. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen iii. 10 He was sent..to be taught and trained up under one James Roe..where he continued a Scholler and Tabler for the space of three yeares. a 1714 M. Henry Life F. Tallents Wks. 1853 I. 624 He left off house-keeping, and went to be a tabler. 1755 Johnson, Boarder, a tabler; one that eats with another at a settled rate. |
† b. One who boards persons. Obs.
| 1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales 8 We are to suppose him to be a Lodger or Tabler of Scholars and other Artists, for their Chamber and weekly Commons. |
4. In senses 4–8 of table v.; as in ‘the tabler of the resolution’, etc.
| a 1910 in N.E.D. 1976 H. Wilson Governance of Britain vii. 141 If the tablers of each of these questions are called by Mr Speaker, no other question is called. |
5. With initial capital. A member of the Round Table organization; a Round-Tabler.
| 1955 [see Soroptimist a. and n.]. 1973 Scotsman 21 Feb. 8/4 During lunch with some executives in Rotary and the Round Table..the prominent young Tabler from Lower Yarrow..suggested [etc.]. 1977 Abingdon Herald 10 Mar. 2/5 Between them, the 1,215 Tablers are buying an off-shore lifeboat. |