place mat

American  

noun

1. a mat set on a dining table beneath a place setting.

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Etymology

Origin of place mat

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

“I think you need to eat something,” she said, slapping the bowl onto a place mat, and she was right.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025

Here’s a tea towel that begs for that application, or even to be used as a place mat.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2021

So for almost two weeks straight, after we put away the third place mat on the dinner table, we ate out or ordered in, saving leftovers for lunch.

From Washington Post • Oct. 10, 2021

There is room for bits of Shakespeare, vaudeville theatrics and road trip trivia like the paper place mat maps at Howard Johnson’s restaurants.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 24, 2021

It still has her five-dollar bill stuck under the salt shaker, a half-empty cup of coffee, a dirty fork and an empty place mat with syrup stains.

From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson