round-table [round-tey-buh l] ExamplesWord Origin adjective
- noting or pertaining to a conference, discussion, or deliberation in which each participant has equal status, equal time to present views, etc.: round-table discussions.
Origin of round-table First recorded in 1820–30 round table noun
- a number of persons gathered together for conference, discussion of some subject, etc., and often seated at a round table.
- the discussion, topic of discussion, or the conference itself.
- (initial capital letter) Arthurian Romance.
- the table, made round to avoid quarrels as to precedence, about which King Arthur and his knights sat.
- King Arthur and his knights.
Also round·ta·ble (for defs 1, 2). Origin of round table Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300 Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for round-table Contemporary Examples of round-table
But yes, I’d like to ’round-table’ that, as Ed Meese would say.
Tunku Varadarajan
March 10, 2010
In the summer he hosts a round-table talk show on WLIU FM, the National Public Radio affiliate in Southhampton, NY.
Steven Gaines
February 12, 2009
Historical Examples of round-table
It was to be a general sacrifice, a round-table of magnanimity.
George William Curtis
I was thinking of our round-table argument when the proposition was considered.
Henry Beam Piper
For he who can call but one soul on earth his friend is blessed, and sits at the round-table of the gods.
L. Mhlbach
They don’t believe much in these round-table conferences and European plots.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
We had at Island Park the other day in a round-table conference, a very interesting exercise of that kind.
The Chautauquan, Vol. III, March 1883
The Chautauquan Literary and Scientific Circle
British Dictionary definitions for round-table round table noun
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- a meeting of parties or people on equal terms for discussion
- (as modifier)a round-table conference
Round Table noun the Round Table
- (in Arthurian legend) the table of King Arthur, shaped so that his knights could sit around it without any having precedence
- Arthur and his knights collectively
- one of an organization of clubs of young business and professional men who meet in order to further social and business activities and charitable work
- (in New Zealand) an organization of businessmen supporting policies of the New Right
Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for round-table n.
also roundtable, 1826 in reference to a gathering of persons in which all are accorded equal status (there being no head of a round table.) King Arthur’s Round Table is attested from c.1300, translating Old French table ronde (1155, in Wace’s Roman de Brut).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper