Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

A common table for guests at a hotel; an ordinary.

Now, commonly, a meal, usually of several preselected and fixed courses, in a restaurant, hotel, or the like, for which one pays a fixed price. Sometimes, a meal with optional courses for which one pays a fixed price irrespective of what one orders; but the latter is usuallyt referred to as a pris fixe meal or a a la carte meal. Often used adjectively; as, a table-d'hôte meal.