Bring to the table: 1. Carry item to (usually) four-legged structure, presumably for some purpose. 2. Rather condescending reference to whether someone has anything to contribute, as in “What exactly is Veronica going to bring to the table?”; shades of Jam and Jerusalem, along the lines of bringing cake or other foodstuff to a village gathering of some kind; furthermore, hints of ritual sacrifice or some other arcane religious activity, in which the supplicant individual has to bring something to a central point of major significance; more prosaically, just arriving at the boardroom table for yet another dreary meeting.