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table-cloth
(ˈteɪb(ə)lklɒθ, -ɔː-; for pl. see cloth n.)
A cloth for covering a table. a. A cloth, usually of white linen, spread upon a table in preparation for a meal, and upon which the dishes, plates, etc. are placed.
1467Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 409 My mastyr paid there for a tabylle cloth ij.s. vj.d. 1496–7Rec. St. Mary at Hill 34 Item, ij dyapre Tableclothis for the high Auter. 1575in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 363 If either fellowe or pensioner do wipe his hande or finger of the table clothe he shall pay for every time jd. 1586B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 185 Y⊇ table cloathes wer spread. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 481 Table clothes and linnen used at the solemne Coronation. 1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xxvi, Clothes-basket[s]..full of tablecloths and napkins. 1885Manch. Exam. 9 Sept. 3/1 Equal to the task of instructing a laundress in the ironing of a tablecloth.
b. A cloth, usually of woollen material and often of ornamental design, used to cover a table permanently or when not in use for meals; = table-cover (table n. 22).
1610in Eng. Wom. Dom. Mag. (1862) IV. 109 If the green table-cloth be too little I will make a pair of warm stockings of it. 1879Crockett Kit Kennedy xlix. 358 The letter was laid down on the tablecloth, with a fast-falling rain of tears falling upon it.
c. fig. Name for a cloud covering the flat top and hanging down over the edge of Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope.
[1791Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 16/2 The Table Land or Mountain is sometimes suddenly capped with a white cloud, by some called the ‘spreading of the Table-cloth’.] 1836Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 29 When the cloud that they call the Table-cloth comes down, people are often lost in the fog. 1898Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 1/3, I had no time to spare for the ascent of Table Mountain, and the tablecloth of clouds indeed forbade me to attempt it.
Hence ˈtable-ˌclothing |-klɒθɪŋ, -ɔː-|, linen for table-cloths; ˈtable-cloth-ˌwise adv., in the manner of a table-cloth; ˈtable-ˌclothy |-klɒθɪ, -ɔː-| a., resembling or suggesting a table-cloth.
1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xxxi, I'm having linen spun, an' thinking all the while it'll make sheeting and table-clothing for her when she's married. 1891Kipling Life's Handicap, End of Passage 159 Clouds of tawny dust..flung themselves tablecloth-wise among the tops of the parched trees, and came down again. 1866Howells Venet. Life iii, Where the marble is carven in vast and heavy folds..to simulate a curtain..it has..a harshness decidedly table-clothy. |