Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
draw the cloth en · VERB
Meanings
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(archaic) To clear the table after a meal.
The silence of our meal was alone broken by the dull clattering of knives and forks, and the tinkling of the bell to summon the brisk waiter to bring wine and draw the cloth.
1855, Susanna Moodie, Geoffrey Moncton, page 327:At last, when the cloth had been drawn and the King's health drunk in a glass of port suited to a very young head, they took their coffee and ratafia biscuits (the sea-going equivalent of petits fours) in the great cabin.
1996, Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral, page 174:
Forms
Antonyms
set the table · lay the table
Synonyms
unset the table · clear the table