off the table

O

off the table (idiom)
/ɒf ðə ˈteɪ.bəl/

Meanings

• No longer available for discussion or consideration.
• Withdrawn from negotiation or offer.
• Not possible or feasible.
• (Literal) Physically removed from a table.

Synonyms: ruled out; excluded; withdrawn; not an option; unavailable.

Example Sentences

1. The promotion is off the table after his repeated mistakes at work.
2. The government announced that tax cuts are off the table during the crisis.
3. A vacation to Europe is off the table this year because of budget limits.
4. The dishes are off the table and stacked neatly in the sink. (literal)

Origin and History

Literal Foundations

In its earliest and most basic sense, “off the table” simply described the physical removal or absence of an object from a table surface. Phrases such as “the plate fell off the table” were part of everyday English for centuries. A published government report from 1864, for instance, records the line: “…he picked up his cap from off the table.” This usage is literal, reflecting a straightforward description rather than an idiom.

The Table as a Metaphor

The shift toward figurative meaning stems from parliamentary practice. To “place something on the table” originally meant to lay down a document for discussion. Over time, this physical gesture became a metaphor for presenting a proposal. As a natural corollary, something “off the table” came to mean that it was withdrawn, withheld, or excluded from discussion.

Parliamentary Variations

The evolution of this phrase is complicated by differences in parliamentary traditions. In some legislative bodies, “to table” means to introduce a matter for immediate debate, while in others it means to postpone or set it aside. Despite this divergence, the metaphor of “on the table” as available for discussion and “off the table” as removed from consideration became widely understood across both British and American contexts.

Rise in Political and Business Language

By the twentieth century, “off the table” had taken hold as a common idiom in politics, diplomacy, and business. It became a way to describe demands or proposals that were withdrawn or no longer possible. In negotiation settings, officials frequently declared, “That option is off the table,” signaling that the subject was not open for reconsideration.

Early Printed Evidence

For the figurative sense, documented examples appear prominently in U.S. government records of the late twentieth century. In the minutes of a National Security Council meeting dated January 25, 1983, an official remarked:

“But like throw-weight, we can’t keep it off the table.”

This illustrates the idiom in its fully developed negotiation sense.

Country of Development

The metaphorical foundation for the idiom derives from British parliamentary tradition, where the “table” symbolized the space for documents and debate. However, the widespread idiomatic use of “off the table” is most strongly attested in American political and bureaucratic writing during the twentieth century. Conceptually British in origin but American in practical adoption, the phrase reflects the crossing of parliamentary language into diplomatic and business English.

Variants

• take off the table
• put off the table
• keep off the table
• leave off the table

Off, Political