coffee table
69
1.2
- noun
- /ˈkɔːfi ˈteɪbəl/
:
mesa de centro
- The contents of the bar are scattered across the coffee table, indicating serious drinking in progress.
Anything you leave on this coffee table just vanishes overnight.
- Anything you leave on this coffee table just vanishes overnight.
- OK, what do you guys think of the new coffee table and coffee table decor?
- My God, it's it's a media cabinet, a coffee table and a side table.
- And I had it for a while, like on my coffee table.
- Oh man, take the the coffee table full of snicker bars and twigs and richer cups.
- This little side console table, now temporary coffee table.
- That was the entire Napoleonic Wars that I played on a massive coffee table.
- I think these deserve a spot in like the bowl on the coffee table.
Examples
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She placed her cup of tea on the coffee table while lounging on the sofa.
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There is a couch, and before it, a coffee table with coke scattered on a plate.
Fiction book (1992) -
Oh my God, this coffee table has been with me forever.
-
Well, why not just get a new coffee table while we're at it?
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I picked the new People up off the coffee table and said I was going to read in bed.
Fiction book (1990) -
And because I got such a big couch, they had to find a really big coffee table to match it.
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Spare me the details and just leave the tray on the coffee table.
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OK, what do you guys think of the new coffee table and coffee table decor?
-
The waiting room contained three chairs and a coffee table on which four magazines were placed.
Academic text (1997) -
The front presidential row has small coffee tables with bowls of fresh fruit and flowers.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A flat-topped piece of furniture with legs used for eating or working
1
2.4
A small piece of furniture for serving tea and snacks to guests
1
3.0
A small low table placed in front of a sofa to hold drinks or magazines
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a low table for holding drinks, magazines, etc.' is directly and predictably derived from 'coffee' (a drink) modifying 'table' (a piece of furniture), signaling a table associated with coffee. This noun–noun compounding pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Coffee table comes from the simple scene of a low table where people put their coffee while sitting on a sofa. That's why coffee table now means 'a low table for holding drinks, magazines, and other items'.