vbl. sb. [f. TABLE v. and sb. + -ING1.]
1. The action of setting down or entering in table; tabulation. Now rare.
c. 1450. in Aungier, Syon (1840), 361. To her settyng hygher or lower,… tabulyng and assygnementes, alle owe redyly to obey.
1561. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 179. Without ony continuatioun, dyet or tabling of uther summondis.
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Tabling of Fines, is the making of a table for euery countie, where his Maiesties writ runneth, conteining the contents of euery fine, that shall passe in any one terme [etc.].
1624. 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., 30/2. An Act concerning the fees to be taken in cities, boroughs, towns, &c., and the tabling thereof.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., Tabling of a Summons. At the institution of the College of Justice (1537), there was appointed a table, in which were set down all summonses, to be called in their turns.
† 2. Playing at ‘tables’ or backgammon. Cf. TABLER2 1. Obs.
1553. Ord. Voy. Cathay, in Hakl. (1886), III. 19. Neither dicing, carding, tabling, nor other divilish games to be frequented.
1583. Balington, Command., iv. (1599), 166. I require … that … they better weigh whether carding, dising, and tabling … be exercises commanded of God for the sabaoth day or no.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 411. Vsurie, carding, tabling and such like.
3. The action of providing or fact of being provided with meals; provision of food; boarding, board. Cf. TABLE v. 2. Now rare or Obs.
a. 1553. in Cole, Hen. VIII’s Scheme Bishopricks (1838), 117. Borde and tabelyng frely in the late Monasterie to one scolemaster.
1587. Harrison, England, II. vi. (1877), I. 142. To spend their time in large tabling and bellie cheere.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, II. xxxiv. (1640), 165. He would have left the matter of his tabling to him.
1725. Postmaster, 16 April, 6. Lodgings, furnish’d or unfurnish’d, with good Tabling or without.
1830. J. Hodgson, in J. Raine, Mem. (1858), II. 154, note. You can have a bed and tabling here.
4. Material for table-cloths; table-linen. (Cf. bedding.)
1640. in Entick, London (1766), II. 167. Diaper for tabling.
1721. C. King, Brit. Merch., II. 347. 10281 Yards Diaper Tabling, at 2s.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 131. Diaper Tabling, of the manufacture of Silesia.
5. Tables collectively; accommodation of tables.
1892. Gard. Chron., 27 Aug., 254/3. The length of tabling filled with products must have reached fully half a mile.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 21 March, 8/1. Supposing we had to put up tabling, the capacity of the hall would be reduced at once from 3,000 to 800.
6. Arch. The making of a ‘table’ or horizontal projecting course (see TABLE sb. 12 a); concr. such a course itself; spec. a coping.
1411. in J. R. Boyle, Hedon (1875), App. 168. In ij. bussellis calcis emptis pro dictis fenestris et pro tabelyng de les wykes ibidem, iiij.d.
1671. in Holmes, Pontefract Bk. Entries (1882), 103. Item, for corbells, rigginge and tableinge 1. 13. 4.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 21. There was the corbel tabling, showing the old height.
1876. Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., Gloss., Tabling, a term used by the Scotch builders to denote the coping of the walls of very common houses.
7. Carpentry and Shipbuilding. See TABLE v. 6.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 11. Tabling is the uniting of pieces together in a manner similar to the chain-coak, but broader.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 155. Tabling, letting one piece of timber into another by alternate scores or projections from the middle, so that they cannot be drawn asunder either lengthwise or sidewise.
8. Sailmaking. A broad hem made at the edge of a sail to strengthen it: see TABLE v. 7.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1776), Tabling, bander, a sort of broad hem formed on the skirts and bottoms of a ship’s sails, to strengthen them in that part which is attached to the bolt-rope.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 89.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 11. Tabling, the double part of a sail, close to the bolt-rope.
9. In hedging: see quot., and cf. TABLE sb. 13 c.
1843. J. Smith, Forest Trees, 24. Give the hedge what is called a tabling, that is to collect the earth … that has been taken away from the roots,… and place it again in its original position.
10. Anat. = TABLATURE 5.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
11. attrib., as † tabling-den, a low-class gaming-house; † tabling school, a boarding-school.
1886. H. Hall, Soc. Eliz. Age, viii. 105. The towns were flooded with tippling-houses, bowling-alleys, tabling-dens.
1660. C. Hoole, New Disc. old Art Teaching Schoole, vi. 282. The shutting of children up … into a dark room, and depriving them of a meals meat, or the like (which are used in some Tabling Schools) … cannot be commendably … used in our greater Schooles.
