Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A slab or plaque, as of stone or ivory, with a surface that is intended for or bears an inscription.
  • noun A thin sheet or leaf, used as a writing surface.
  • noun A set of such leaves fastened together, as in a book.
  • noun A pad of writing paper glued together along one edge.
  • noun A lightweight, portable computer having a touchscreen as the method by which data is input.
  • noun A small flat pellet of medication to be taken orally.
  • noun A small flat cake of a prepared substance, such as soap.
  • transitive verb To inscribe on a tablet.
  • transitive verb To form into a tablet.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To form into a tablet, or make tablets, in some technical sense.
  • noun A small flat slab or piece, especially one intended to receive an inscription.
  • noun A panel or medallion built in or hung on a wall, usually as a memorial or a votive tablet.
  • noun One of a set of laminæ, leaves, or sheets of some thin inflexible material for writing; in the plural, the set as a whole.
  • noun A small flat or flattish cake of some solidified substance: as, a tablet of chocolate or of bouillon. Sometimes written tablette.
  • noun In medicine, a certain weight or measure of a solid drug, brought by pressure, or the addition of a little gum, into a shape (generally that of a disk) convenient for administration: as, charcoal tablets; compressed tablets of chlorate of potassa.
  • noun The final member in a wall, consisting of slabs of cut stone projecting slightly beyond the face of the wall for its protection or shelter; a horizontal capping or coping, as the border course of a reservoir.
  • noun In anatomy and zoology, a table or tabula: as, the inner and outer tablets of a cranial bone. See tablature, 5, and table, n., 1 . [For the word tablets, occurring thrice in the authorized version of the Bible, the revised version substitutes armlets in Ex. xxxv. 22 and Num. xxxi. 50, with the alternative “or necklaces” in the latter, and both perfume boxes and amulets in Isa. iii. 20.]

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small table or flat surface.
  • noun A flat piece of any material on which to write, paint, draw, or engrave; also, such a piece containing an inscription or a picture.
  • noun obsolete Hence, a small picture; a miniature.
  • noun A kind of pocket memorandum book.
  • noun A flattish cake or piece.
  • noun (Pharm.) A solid kind of electuary or confection, commonly made of dry ingredients with sugar, and usually formed into little flat squares; -- called also lozenge, and troche, especially when of a round or rounded form.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A slab of rock used for inscription.
  • noun religion A short scripture written by the founders of the Bahá'í faith.
  • noun A pill; a small, easily swallowed portion of a substance.
  • noun computing A graphics tablet
  • noun computing A tablet computer, a type of portable computer
  • noun Scotland A confection made from sugar, condensed milk and butter.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a slab of stone or wood suitable for bearing an inscription
  • noun a small flat compressed cake of some substance
  • noun a number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge
  • noun a dose of medicine in the form of a small pellet

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English tablette, from Old French tablete, diminutive of table, table; see table.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French tablete (Modern French tablette), diminutive of table ("table").

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Examples

  • But let us not fool ourselves that the aspirin tablet is treating the disease, it is treating the symptom.

    No More Aspirin, Please Nick Anthis 2006

  • The word tablet is, so far, nearly synonymous with iPad.

    Gizmodo Jack Loftus 2011

  • It seems strange having to explain the utility of a tablet to a kindle user: the tablet is a really nice kindle.

    Matthew Yglesias » More Tablets 2010

  • Archos calls its device an Internet Tablet, I consider it more of a Portable Media Player as I reserve the label tablet for devices with larger ...

    Megite Technology News: What's Happening Right Now 2010

  • Dell Inc. gave a look at what they called a tablet-concept device that features a 5-inch screen.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • Dell Inc. gave a look at what they called a tablet-concept device that features a 5-inch screen.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer got a ho-hum reaction as he showed off a new Hewlett-Packard (HP) slate tablet, while executives from Dell gave a look at what they called a tablet-concept device that features a 5-inch screen.

    The Seattle Times 2010

  • Businessweek also chimed in on the netbook, which it describes as a tablet-like media pad that can play music and videos, view photos, browse the Web with mobile Safari, and make calls over a Wi-Fi connection.

    TG Daily - All News 2009

  • My Gateway tablet is pretty much on 16 hrs a day, on a desk, tethered to a monitor (the tablet feature just wasn't that great).

    Clean Your Laptop To Keep It Running Smooth And Cool | Lifehacker Australia 2009

  • Then, if you can prove you have a job, a place to live and can support your progeny, the tablet is removed and you can procreate.

    Citizen Focus – meet the “customer”. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • Another help to the memory is the pocketbook in which to enter stray thoughts and observations: what the Elizabethans called ‘tablets’.

    Keith Thomas · Diary: Working Methods · LRB 10 June 2010 Keith Thomas 2020

Comments

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  • When used as in "pill"

    February 4, 2008

  • A small table?

    December 25, 2010