Etymology

From by-Category:English links with manual fragments#BY-TABLE +‎ tableCategory:English terms prefixed with by-#TABLE.

Noun

by-table (plural by-tables)Category:English lemmas#BYTABLECategory:English nouns#BYTABLECategory:English countable nouns#BYTABLECategory:English multiword terms#BYTABLECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BYTABLECategory:Pages with entries#BY-TABLECategory:Pages with 1 entry#BY-TABLE

1. (ScotlandCategory:Scottish English#BYTABLE, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#BYTABLE) A small table intended to be placed next to the wall or in the corner of a room, often in contrast to a larger (e.g. dining) table. [17^th to early 19^th century.]^[1]
   • 1625, John Barclay, chapter 14, in Argenis, page 229:

     […] hee had seene a Box of most curious worke, in-layde with Ebony and Iuory, vpon a by-Table, not farre from the Couch-Bed […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#BYTABLE

   • 1738, Ebenezer Erskine, “The Annals of Redeeming Love”, in Works‎, volume 2, published 1798, page 450:

     This year the believer quits the by-table of ordinances, word, and sacraments in the church militant, and sits down at the high table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

     Category:English terms with quotations#BYTABLE

   • 1753, Tobias Smollett, chapter 14, in The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom‎, published 1782:

     […] this amiable heroine snatching up his sword, which lay upon a by-table, and unsheathing it instantaneously, presented the point to his breast,

     Category:English terms with quotations#BYTABLE

   • 1823, James Hogg, The Three Perils of Woman‎, volume 1, page 8:

     There was no one in the parlour beside her nurse, when Gatty went in, save her brother Joe, who was sitting at a by-table, busily engaged in arranging some fishing tackle.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BYTABLE

References