† 1. Arch. A flat stone, a stone tablet; also, a horizontal stone. Obs.
c. 1467–9. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 641. Pro … nova operacione et posicione tabilstonys [in the walls of a church].
1554. Aberdeen Regr. (1844), I. 281. Findand sufficient hewyn stanes to the haill wark with the tabill stane of the gavillis and makand the said tolbuith vattirthicht.
2. Archæol. a. A fat stone supported by two or more upright stones; a cromlech or dolmen; also, the horizontal stone forming the top of this.
1840. T. A. Trollope, Summ. Brittany, II. 88. These dolmens, or table-stones, consist … of one large flat mass, supported by several upright stones.
1880. Jefferies, Gr. Ferne F., 150. He crawled right under the table-stone of the dolmen.
b. A small flat round stone supposed to have been used in a game resembling draughts.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. IV. vi. 335. Table-stones, or draughtsmen, are found alongside the weapons and other relics buried with the warrior.
