tablecloth

«tablecloth» in Mova's school dictionary: a large piece of cloth that covers a table, especially… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a tablecloth, tablecloths)

meaning for a pupil

A tablecloth is a large piece of cloth that covers a table, especially during meals, to protect it and make it look nice. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life tablecloths are used for meals, parties and picnics; children may help lay or clear the table. In safety, small children can pull on a hanging tablecloth and bring hot drinks or heavy things down on themselves. In science «the tablecloth trick» (pulling it away quickly while dishes stay) shows inertia. Phrases: «lay a tablecloth», «a clean tablecloth», «the tablecloth trick».

examples

• Put the tablecloth on before we lay the table. tree →
• I spilled juice on the white tablecloth. tree →
• Grandma's tablecloth has lace edges. tree →
• The magician pulled the tablecloth away and the plates stayed still. tree →
• Don't let the baby pull on the tablecloth; the teapot could fall. tree →
• We spread a tablecloth on the grass for our picnic. tree →
• After dinner, shake the crumbs off the tablecloth outside. tree →
• The tablecloth has a red and white checked pattern. tree →
• In the middle of the room there stood a little table, covered with a white tablecloth, and seven little plates and forks and spoons and knives and tumblers. tree →

note

Countable: «a tablecloth», plural «tablecloths». One word. The tablecloth trick works because of inertia: objects stay still unless a force acts on them long enough; do not try it with good dishes.

In the corpora

• A baby can pull a tablecloth and bring hot drinks or heavy pots down onto himself.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «tablecloth» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.