dumbwaiter

[ duhm-wey-ter ]

noun

1. a small elevator, manually or electrically operated, consisting typically of a box with shelves, used in apartment houses, restaurants, and large private dwellings for moving dishes, food, garbage, etc., between floors.
2. British.
   1. an auxiliary serving table.
   2. a serving stand with tiers of revolving shelves.
   3. a serving cart.

dumbwaiter

/ ˈdʌmˌweɪtə /

noun

1. 1. a stand placed near a dining table to hold food
   2. a revolving circular tray placed on a table to hold food US and Canadian namelazy Susan
2. a lift for carrying food, rubbish, etc, between floors

Word History and Origins

Origin of dumbwaiter¹

First recorded in 1745–55; dumb + waiter

Example Sentences

Puig grew up atop the company’s offices and factory, in a six-story building in the Eixample district where a noisy dumbwaiter carried packages to the street and large tanks of alcohol sat in the basement.

From Washington Post

The morning after a wild night, Stone whips up some eggs and English muffins and sends them upstairs in a dumbwaiter to Carrie.

From The Daily Beast

Two or three houses that I have known had a very simple rough dumbwaiter running from the cellar up into a window-seat.

From Project Gutenberg

Shut off from every other means of escape, they remembered the dumbwaiter that ran from the kitchen up to the floors above.

From Project Gutenberg

The boys would take them off of this dumbwaiter and carry them over on to a little table near the checker stand.

From Project Gutenberg

For it opened upon what seemed to be just a dumbwaiter shaft.

From Project Gutenberg

All dishes are to be removed quietly, and either placed in a dumbwaiter or given in charge of a maidservant just outside the door.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• escalator