Meaning
To reverse a situation so that an opponent's advantage becomes yours (or theirs becomes yours, if they turn them), typically by countering cleverly and gaining the upper hand. Used in arguments, contests and rivalries: 'she turned the tables on her critics with a single riposte'. Nothing to do with furniture - the 'tables' are gaming tables. Neutral, competitive register implying a satisfying or dramatic reversal of fortune. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The board-game origin usually given is well supported: the phrase comes from 17th-century table games, backgammon among them - in Middle English the game itself was called 'tables', and Etymonline states the figurative 'turn the tables' (1630s) 'is from backgammon (in Middle English the game was called tables)'. It referred to reversing the position of the board so each player played from the other's side, hence reversing each player's situation. Grammarphobia, citing the OED, reports earliest uses of George Chapman's comedy The Widdowes Teares (1612), 'I may turne tables with you ere long', and Bishop Robert Sanderson's 1648 sermon 'do but turn the tables: imagine thy neighbour were now playing thy game, and thou his' - the Sanderson gloss spelling out the game image explicitly. The phrase was likely figurative from the start rather than a literal gaming description that later drifted.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- How the tables have turned
- The tables are turned
- Turn the tables on someone
- Turning of the tables
Usage Examples
- After months of losing bids, the small firm turned the tables and outbid its giant rival for the contract.
- The defendant turned the tables on the prosecutor by producing the missing receipt.
- One defensive error and the tables turned completely: the home side never scored again.