tabling

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of table.

   The council is tabling the budget discussion for now.

   Tabling the motion gave members time to gather more facts.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty: a participle after be (the council is tabling) and a gerund that takes an object (tabling the motion). It carries every meaning of the verb, including two that point in opposite directions. In American use, tabling a motion shelves it, as in the American "shelving". In British use it puts the motion forward for debate. So whether "the council is tabling the budget" means delay or proposal depends on where the council sits.

2. 2
   nounUSuncountable

   The setting-aside of a topic, removing it from active discussion.

   The committee's tabling of the motion delayed any vote for months.

   Her tabling of the controversial item drew complaints from the floor.

   Similarshelving, postponement, deferral

   Note

   An American usage for shelving business rather than raising it: a board that tables a motion puts it aside. The noun is countable, so a contentious meeting can produce "a series of tablings and withdrawals," as the Woodstock Town Board's did in 1978. Take care with British readers, for whom the opposite 'bring forward' meaning is the usual one. The same sentence can mean the reverse on either side of the Atlantic.

3. 3
   nounUKuncountable

   The introduction of a topic into a discussion, bringing it forward for consideration.

   The minister's tabling of the bill opened the week's debate.

   Her tabling of the amendment forced the council to address the funding gap.

   Similarintroduction, presentation

   Oppositewithdrawal

   Note

   For a British reader the word points forward, toward debate, never away from it. Because the American "shelving" points the other way, a phrase like "the tabling of the report" is ambiguous to a mixed audience. When readers on both sides of the Atlantic may see it, "introduction" or "postponement" says plainly which is meant.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The arranging of information into tables; a display in tabular form.

   The tabling of the experimental data clarified the relationships between variables.

   Their tabling of monthly sales figures revealed a steady decline.

   Similartabulation

   Note

   Tabulation does the same work without the ambiguity. Said in a meeting, "the tabling of the figures" could be heard as putting them forward or shelving them. Where the context is plainly data rather than debate, tabling is clear enough. Where a committee is handling a report, tabulation is the safer choice.

5. 5
   nounmetonymicallyuncountable

   The staffing of a booth or display to represent a company or organization at an exposition, fair, or similar event.

   The club's tabling at orientation week recruited dozens of new members.

   Her tabling at the trade show gave the brand its first exposure to retailers.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   The use of a table that stores the results of subproblems, which can be reused later when the same subproblem arises again.

   The algorithm's tabling of computed subresults eliminated redundant calculation.

   Through tabling, the solver avoided recomputing values it had already found.

   Similarmemoization

   Note

   A programmer's term for remembering answers. Once a subproblem is solved, its result goes into a table, and when the same subproblem comes up again the solver looks it up instead of working it out anew. Here the noun names a technique rather than a single act, so it often appears without an article: a solver uses tabling, or avoids recomputation through tabling.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   The joining of one timber into another by alternate notches or projections, as in shipbuilding; a rough form of dovetailing.

   The tabling of the keel timbers gave the vessel much of its strength.

   Shipwrights relied on tabling where iron fastenings would corrode.

   Note

   A shipwright's joint rather than a cabinetmaker's. The two timbers are cut with alternating scores and projections that fit into each other, a heavier and rougher relative of the dovetail. The word stays inside carpentry and shipbuilding. In a text about hulls or keels, tabling means this joint, not a table of figures or a parliamentary motion.

8. 8
   noununcountable

   A broad hem along the edge of a sail, sewn to strengthen it.

   The sailmaker widened the tabling to withstand the coming gale.

   Worn tabling along the leech let the canvas tear in the wind.

   Similarhem

   Note

   Sailmakers give this reinforced margin different widths on different edges. James Grange's Hints to young shipmasters (1867) calls for three inches of tabling on the luffs and after leeches of jibs, and less on the foot. Luff, leech and foot are the words the tabling is measured against. A sailmaker speaks of the tabling on the leech, not simply of the hem.

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