set the table

Idioms

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]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Rate traders aren’t expecting any moves from the Fed when it wraps up its two-day policy meeting on March 18, but softer jobs and inflation data could set the table for a quarter-point reduction in April.

From Barron's

Once inside, I light the stove while my sisters set the table.

From Literature

Then he helped Hannah clean up the mess and set the table in the dining room under her careful instruction.

From Literature

Explain Bivens doctrine now, to set the table for what follows.

From Slate

Wall Street banks set the table for a better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings season overall following a series of upbeat outlooks that bode well for the wave of industrial, consumer, healthcare, and tech reports expected over the coming weeks.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023