# Is Merriam Websters Definition for Tabletop badly written? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895 "2013-12-21T13:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/1 "2013-12-21T13:45:29Z")
I was checking my spelling for tabletop at Websters. One word or two. I was quite surprised at their crappy definition. \*Tabletop \*radios and Tabletop Tv’s. \*Console \*radios & tv’s have been established words for 80 years or more. I think of Tabletop as a _specific noun_. It tells you the intended purpose of the item. You can’t put a console tv on a table. 😛 I’d argue that tabletop and console have become nouns in this usage. They are more than adjectives. Tabletop radio [![](https://www.soundandvision.com/images/styles/600_wide/public/12192006112523.jpg?itok=qsaMh-vl) ](https://www.soundandvision.com/images/styles/600_wide/public/12192006112523.jpg?itok=qsaMh-vl) console radio [![](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4043/4544510215_09d548000d_o.jpg) ](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4043/4544510215_09d548000d_o.jpg) Am I over thinking this? Websters definition doesn’t begin to properly explain this word. IMHO But they do give some weird example of a collection of pictures? What the hell were they smoking? > **[Definition of TABLETOP](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tabletop)** > > the top of a table; a photograph of small objects or a miniature scene arranged on a table… See the full definition ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/2 "2013-12-21T13:53:29Z")
Are you complaining that they don’t have the adjective definition (which I agree they should), or are you complaining that they don’t have another noun definition, where you would refer to a tabletop radio as just a tabletop? I’ve never heard that second usage before. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/3 "2013-12-21T14:01:00Z")
Well both. They don’t even mention tabletop radios. Thats the most common usage of the word there is. I’m not sure if its only an adjective or if it became a noun. I used to see ads in the newspapers for tabletop tv’s. I think of it as a noun in the situation. Can an adjective become a noun if its used enough in a common phrase? I guess today the word is declining in use because electronics are pocket sized today. Tv’s are still big because of the viewing screen. Laptop Computer. Is laptop a adj because the computer can rest in your lap. Or is it a noun in that phrase? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/4 "2013-12-21T14:10:04Z")
I just checked Oxford and it has the correct definition. noun ``` the horizontal top part of a table. [as modifier] small or portable enough to be placed or used on a table:a tabletop hockey game ``` > **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com/)** > > Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data. I knew I wasn’t crazy. Webster and his buddy Merriam are full of crap. laptop is a noun too. > **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com/)** > > Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data. noun ``` a computer that is portable and suitable for use while traveling. ``` ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/5 "2013-12-21T14:21:18Z")
It’s a generational thing. Tabletop radio was a common phrase forty years ago just like laptop computer or mini tower pc is today. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/6 "2013-12-21T14:48:30Z")
And back in my day, “cocktail table” meant you sat down to play Pac-Man! ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/7 "2013-12-21T15:35:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Laptop Computer. Is laptop a adj because the computer can rest in your lap. Or is it a noun in that phrase? A laptop computer.: “laptop” is an adjective. A laptop.: “laptop” is a noun. Similarly for “a console TV” versus “a console”. I’ve never heard “a tabletop” used in place of “a tabletop radio”. Tabletop to me only means the top of a table. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/8 "2013-12-21T18:12:54Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > A laptop computer.: “laptop” is an adjective. > A laptop.: “laptop” is a noun. > > Similarly for “a console TV” versus “a console”. I’ve never heard “a tabletop” used in place of “a tabletop radio”. Tabletop to me only means the top of a table. I agree with this. And, just to note, the OED has _tabletop_ as an adjective (either hyphenated or single word), with the photography definition as the first. To clarify, that definition apparently refers to the practice of photographing miniature diorama set (obviously) on tabletops. It’s a usage that is probably on the wane; the first quote is from 1914 (“We can all enter the lists of table-top photography,‥and spend our winter evenings counterfeiting, at leisure, many of the most attractive sights of the world.”) and the most recent from 1956. Also, Merriam-Webster doesn’t elaborate, but they _do_ indicate the word can be used as an adjective (“— **tabletop** _adjective_”). As for usage morphing those adjective-noun phrases into simple adjectives-_as_-nouns, that’s rather common, I suppose, but not necessarily in need of a specific definition entry. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/9 "2013-12-21T23:12:20Z")
Thanks for the help. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-merriam-websters-definition-for-tabletop-badly-written/676895/10 "2013-12-22T15:27:44Z")
I can remember when a TV presenter tested his audience on the use of the word ‘transistor’. To the teenagers it meant a small portable radio; to the adults it (mostly) meant a small electronic device. These days no one calls a small radio a ‘transistor’. Mostly it’s an MP3 player or one of those Apple things.