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Glite Dictionary
🍽️ To remove dishes 💻 To empty data
to clear the table

to clear the table

16 1.1
Remove dishes and other things from the table after a meal
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : recoger la mesa
  • Before we can start dessert, we need to clear the table of the dishes.
  • help clear the table
  • clear the dinner table
  • cleared the dishes off the table

Examples

Synonyms

to clear off
vsto clear the table
8 3.0

Remove things from a surface to make it empty or clean

is done specifically after eating to remove dishes and items

Surface Forms

clear the table infinitive
cleared the table past
cleared the table past participle
clearing the table present participle
clears the table third person singular

Morphology

clear + the + table

The meaning 'to remove all rows from a database table' is directly derivable from combining 'clear' (to remove or empty) with 'table' (a set of information in rows and columns). This is a straightforward verb + object composition (with 'the' as a grammatical article) and the computing sense is a transparent extension of clearing a physical table, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will grasp it.

Etymology

The phrase clear the table comes from the simple action at a meal when someone picks up plates, cups and cutlery to make the table clean. That's why it means 'to remove dishes and other items from the table'.