Obs. [f. BY- 3 a + TABLE.] A side-table; one which is not the main table in a room.
1550. Ridley, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., II. I. xxx. 256. To take down and abolish all other by-tables and altars.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclays Argenis, III. xxiv. 229. He had seen a Box of most curious worke, upon a by-table.
a. 1805. A. Carlyle, Autobiog., 488. His companions [sat] at a by-table.