table talk
1
4.5
- noun
- Informal
:
charlas de mesa
- After half an hour of table talk, the House reconvened to comments from the Chair of Committee Eight, Deputy Jennings, who thanked members of the Committee for their hard work.
Examples
-
The children engage in playful table talk while sharing their meals together.
-
I trust that examining the assumptions will make for energetic table talk by healthcare providers at all organizational levels as we move toward what may become a major change in the way we provide, or at least finance, healthcare in the United States.
Academic text (1993) -
Food and table talk is all they know.
Fiction book (1999) -
I am tired of all this table talk.
Blog text (1) -
We came to your place through the source fed thing and when we did the table talk, all of a sudden when that was done, we started talking about marriage.
-
So the link you're talking about was coming out of Sabrina, going into the monologue, going into the table talk, moving around.
-
1837-9 HALLAM: They registered all his table talk in commonplace books.
Blog text (6) -
During dinner, we enjoyed lighthearted table talk about our favorite vacations.
-
Although the discussion was informal, the table talk included several interesting stories.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A talk between two or more people to share news and ideas
947
1.0
A discussion where people share ideas or feelings
504
1.0
An activity of sharing ideas or information by speaking to someone
87
3.5
Continuous talk about small things, often lively and noisy
65
2.1
Polite short talk about simple topics like the weather
28
2.0
Friendly, light talk about unimportant things
12
7.1
A short friendly talk between people
9
2.8
Short friendly talk about unimportant things
5
8.9
A short informal private talk between people
4
9.1
A short informal talk between people
1
2.3
A short informal talk to share or clear up something
1
8.4
A friendly relaxed chat between people, often over coffee
Light friendly talk about small unimportant things, often gossip
How Serious
- Formal
∞
2.0
∞
1.4
∞
1.0
- Informal
1
4.5
- Informal
269
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'informal conversation during a meal' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'table' (the dining setting or people seated at a table) with 'talk' (conversation), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to conversation occurring at the table. The metonymic use of 'table' for the social setting is common and the noun+noun composition follows regular English patterns, making the expression predictable for B1 learners.
Etymology
Table talk comes from the simple image of people sitting around a table and talking while they eat. Because friends or family often share stories and ideas at meals, table talk now means 'informal conversation during a meal'.