set the table

set the table

To place and arrange things to be used while eating a meal, such as plates, utensils, glasses, napkins, etc. Janie, would you please set the table? We'll be ready to eat shortly.
See also: set, table
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

set the table

to place plates, glasses, napkins, etc., on the table before a meal. (The opposite of clear the table.) Jane, would you please set the table? Fm tired of setting the table. Ask someone else to do it.
See also: set, table
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

set the table

Also, lay the table. Arrange a cloth, plates, glasses, silverware and the like for a meal, as in Please set the table for eight tonight. [Late 1300s]
See also: set, table
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • lay the table
  • artillery
  • do the dishes
  • make (one's) peace with (someone or something)
  • make one's peace with
  • make peace with
  • make peace with (someone or something)
  • make peace with somebody
  • propose a toast
  • fork
References in classic literature
"Well," remarked the woman, as she bustled around the room and set the table and brought food from the cupboard, "you were unlucky to live all alone in that dismal forest, which is much worse than the forest around here; but perhaps your luck will change, now you are away from it.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
"I wish sometimes that I could bridle Minnie's," murmured Rebecca, as she went to set the table for supper.
Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm
Where were his lobster Newburgs now, his cold quarts that were wont to set the table in a roar?
Uneasy Money
In fact it was an immense relief to them all to have a little work, and they took hold with a will, but soon realized the truth of Hannah's saying, "Housekeeping ain't no joke." There was plenty of food in the larder, and while Beth and Amy set the table, Meg and Jo got breakfast, wondering as they did why servants ever talked about hard work.
Little Women
To see such things done with the roguish naivete of that pretty little child, and hear such things spoken by that small infantile voice, was as peculiarly piquant and irresistibly droll to them as it was inexpressibly distressing and painful to me; and when he had set the table in a roar he would look round delightedly upon them all, and add his shrill laugh to theirs.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
She would set the table and they would sit down opposite each other, and eat their dinner; she ate as little as possible, herself, to avoid any extra expense, but would stuff him so with food that he would finally go to sleep.
Simple Soul
The clock marked a quarter before twelve when he climbed up out of the lazarette, replaced the trapdoor, and hurried to set the table. He served the company through the noon meal, although it was all he could do to refrain from capsizing the big tureen of split-pea soup over the head of Simon Nishikanta.
Michael Brother of Jerry
When the morning was well on between four and five, she slipped off her shoes (that her going about, might not wake Charley), trimmed the fire sparingly, put water on to boil, and set the table for breakfast.
Our Mutual Friend
The others did the same, and set the table on its legs again.
Memoirs of Sherloc Holmes
At last, about four o'clock, at the very moment when the Abbe de Sponde returned home, and just as mademoiselle began to think she had set the table with the best plate and linen and prepared the choicest dishes to no purpose, the click-clack of a postilion was heard in the Val-Noble.
Old Maid
For, when the mouse had made the fire and fetched in the water, she could retire into her little room and rest until it was time to set the table. The sausage had only to watch the pot to see that the food was properly cooked, and when it was near dinner-time, he just threw himself into the broth, or rolled in and out among the vegetables three or four times, and there they were, buttered, and salted, and ready to be served.
So now the bird set the table, and the mouse looked after the food and, wishing to prepare it in the same way as the sausage, by rolling in and out among the vegetables to salt and butter them, she jumped into the pot; but she stopped short long before she reached the bottom, having already parted not only with her skin and hair, but also with life.
Fairy Tales
Mugridge called an "'owlin' sou'-easter." At half-past five, under his directions, I set the table in the cabin, with rough-weather trays in place, and then carried the tea and cooked food down from the galley.
The Sea Wolf
"That way, when you come here tomorrow (for the second part of the program) and we have our tea, our special tea, you'll be able to help me set the table, and you'll be able to show your parent what you have learned," she said.
Library helping kids keep manners in mind
To finish the setting, float red blooms in clear bowls and add a row of lanterns (such as Rotera lanterns in white from Ikea, $3.99 each; www.ikea.com) to set the table aglow.
Fourth of July tabletop