cocktail table
1
3.0
- noun
- /ˈkɒk.teɪl ˈteɪ.bəl/
- US
:
mesa de centro
- The magazines and drinks were neatly arranged on the cocktail table in the living room.
- a small cocktail table
- a glass cocktail table
Now, the bar is going to go back here, and we'll have two cocktail tables.
- Now, the bar is going to go back here, and we'll have two cocktail tables.
Examples
-
She cleared a space on a clunky cocktail table for the pizza box and brought us both iced Pepsis.
Fiction book (1992) -
I flopped into a mauve-and-aqua armchair alongside a glass cocktail table.
Fiction book (1992) -
We needed a large square glass top cocktail table for the setting below, but did not have the right style or size.
Blog text (16) -
"And that was? ... your drink," which he just noticed on the cocktail table.
Fiction book (2002) -
She rose quickly and took the silver bowl from the cocktail table.
Fiction book (1991) -
The magazines are on the cocktail table, an oil painting of a working-class city street.
Fiction book (1998) -
We selected the Hutton M2M 20-inch cocktail table.
Blog text (16) -
Charlie leans back against the bar, surveying the customers clustered around roulette wheels and cocktail tables.
Fiction book (1991) -
Some couples are deciding to have tall cocktail tables with chairs for that lounge look, but even with this style, you should still have some traditional tables and chairs for elderly, disabled, and pregnant guests who may have difficulty climbing on a stool.
Blog text (31) -
Several low chairs of wrought iron, cushioned with oversized white pillows, had been placed around a carved wooden cocktail table, reminding Kathryn of Arab rooms.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
69
1.2
A low table in front of a sofa for drinks and magazines
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'cocktail table' is directly interpretable as a table for cocktails/drinks; a learner who knows 'cocktail' and 'table' can infer it denotes a small table used to hold drinks (and often magazines or decorations). The noun+noun purpose construction is common cross-linguistically and follows regular compositional patterns, so the meaning is immediately accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun cocktail table comes from party use: it was a small table where people set their cocktails and glasses. Because these low tables were made for holding drinks and for chatting, the name came to mean the short living-room table used for 'drinks' or 'magazines' today.