A console table is a table whose top surface is supported by corbels or brackets rather than by the usual four legs. It is thus similar to a supported shelf
Shelf ( : shelves) may refer to:
* Shelf (storage), a flat horizontal surface used for display and storage
Geology
* Continental shelf, the extended perimeter of a continent, usually covered by shallow seas
* Ice shelf, a thick platform of ice f ...
and is not designed to serve as a stand-alone surface. It is frequently used as pier table (which may have legs of any variety), to abut a pier wall.
The term console derives from the compound Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
verb ''consolor'' "to alleviate, lighten", from the verb ''solor'', "to assuage, soothe, relieve, mitigate", plus the preposition ''con/com/cum'', "with".Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J. R. V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928
References
{{commons category, Console tables Tables (furniture)