saltcellar

[ sawlt-sel-er ]

noun
  1. a shaker or dish for salt.

Origin of saltcellar

1
1400–50; salt1 + cellar, for earlier saler saltcellar, late Middle English <Old French saliere<Latin salāria, noun use of feminine of salārius (adj.) pertaining to salt, equivalent to salsalt1 + -ārius-ary

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How to use saltcellar in a sentence

  • Michael and Alan sat silently at the table, crumbling bread and making patterns in the salt-cellar.

    Sinister Street, vol. 1 | Compton Mackenzie
  • Dont lean on your elbow, or dip your thumb into your drink, or your food into the salt cellar: That is a vice.

  • Dont break your bread in two, or put your pieces in your pocket, your fingers in the dish, or your meat in the salt-cellar.

  • Bring out the chief salt-cellar, and pared loaves, and hold the carving-knives in your right hand.

  • Put your chief salt-cellar before the chief persons seat, his bread by it, and his trenchers before it.

British Dictionary definitions for saltcellar

saltcellar

/ (ˈsɔːltˌsɛlə) /


noun
  1. a small container for salt used at the table

  2. British informal either of the two hollows formed above the collarbones of very slim people

Origin of saltcellar

1
changed (through influence of cellar) from C15 salt saler; saler from Old French saliere container for salt, from Latin salārius belonging to salt, from sal salt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012