# tablet

Pronunciation: US say "TAB-luht" /ˈtæblət/; UK

## Noun

1. A small, easily swallowed portion of a substance in solid form, especially medicine.
   - Simple: A small, solid piece of medicine that you swallow whole.
   - _She crushed a tablet into the baby's applesauce._
   - _Each blister pack holds twenty-eight tablets._
2. A portable computer built around a single flat touchscreen panel, larger than a phone but smaller than a laptop.
   - Simple: A flat, hand-held computer with a touch screen and no keyboard.
   - _He sketched the layout on a tablet during the meeting._
   - _Many schools now issue tablets instead of textbooks._
3. A block of blank paper sheets bound together along the top edge; a pad of paper.
   - Simple: A pad of paper with sheets joined at the top, used for writing or drawing.
   - _The detective flipped his tablet shut and pocketed his pen._
   - _Students filled their tablets with notes during the lecture._
4. A flat slab of clay, stone, or wood prepared for carving or writing an inscription.
   - Simple: A flat piece of clay, stone, or wood with words cut into it.
   - _Scribes pressed symbols into the wet clay tablet with a reed._
   - _Several stone tablets recorded the king's laws._
5. A flat input device on which a user draws with a stylus to create or edit digital images.
   - Simple: A flat device you draw on with a special pen to make pictures on a computer.
   - _The illustrator inked every panel on a pressure-sensitive tablet._
   - _Designers prefer tablets for retouching fine detail._
7. A confection like fudge but with a grainier texture, made from sugar, condensed milk, and butter and set in flat slabs. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A sweet candy made from sugar, milk, and butter, set in flat blocks.
   - _Her grandmother's tablet crumbled pleasantly between the teeth._
   - _The bakery sells tablet alongside shortbread and toffee._
8. A short scripture composed by one of the founders of the Baháʼí Faith.
   - Simple: A short holy writing by a founder of the Baháʼí Faith.
   - _The community studies a tablet revealed by Baháʼu'lláh each week._
   - _Many of these tablets address questions of ethics and worship._
9. A round token that grants a train authority to proceed over a single-track section of line.
   - Simple: A round token that gives a train permission to use a single-track line.
   - _The signalman handed the tablet to the engine driver as the train slowed._
   - _Only the train holding the tablet could enter the single-track section._

## Verb

6. To compress a drug or other substance into tablet form.
   - Simple: To press a medicine or other substance into small solid pills.
   - _The plant tablets thousands of doses each hour._
   - _Manufacturers tablet the active ingredient with a binder to hold it together._

## Origin

From Middle English tablet, from Old French tablete (Modern French tablette), a diminutive of table ("table").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tablet (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).