Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Cain and Abel n.

a table.

1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 5: Cain and Abel n. Table.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 104: Eatin’ the roast an’ boiled off a cain-an’-abel that cost three-score.
1905		Duke Tritton’s Letter n.p.: And I can come home now after a hard day’s yakka, change into clean duds [and] shove my Dutch Pegs under the Cain And Abel.
1911		J.W. Horsley Memoirs of a ‘Sky Pilot’ 253: The children gave me such words as ‘apples and pears’ for stairs, ‘Cain and Abel’ for table.
1914		N.Z. Truth 31 Jan. 2/8: I got up from the Cain and Abel [...] went out the Maggie Moore).
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 43: Cain And Abel: Table.
1930		(con. 1914–18) Brophy & Partridge Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 2: Cain and able: Table.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 80: She sat at the cain and abel in the kitchen.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 293: Telling the potman to put it on the Cain and Abel (table) same as if he was at the Pope o’ Rome (home).
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 42: Get organized – you know, feet under the Cain-and-Abel.
1979		R. Barker Fletcher’s Book of Rhy. Sl. 25: Cain and Abel means table.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 9: He took his pen and ink to a Cain and Abel and plonked himself into a Fred Astaire and tried to nut out a plan for the day.
1999		R. Walton ‘Cockney Jack’ 🌐 On the Cain and Abel his struggle and strife had placed some bug and flea and some needle and thread for his breakfast.
2001		M. Coles Bible in Cockney 20: Noah built a little altar (a sort of Cain-and-Abel where you can offer sacrifices) to the Lord.