table money
Preserved but no longer current.
Also seen as: table charge
A charge additional to that of the meal made at restaurants, etc., towards the cost of attendance; or a small fee charged to players at Bridge clubs; also, in the Army, Navy, and Diplomatic Service, an allowance made to assist in meeting the ex- pense of official entertaining.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “table money” mean?
A charge additional to that of the meal made at restaurants, etc., towards the cost of attendance; or a small fee charged to players at Bridge clubs; also, in the Army, Navy, and Diplomatic Service, an allowance made to assist in meeting the ex- pense of official entertaining.
Is “table money” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.