dumbwaiter

[ duhm-wey-ter ]

/ ˈdʌmˌweɪ tər /

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noun

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.

British.

an auxiliary serving table.
a serving stand with tiers of revolving shelves.
a serving cart.

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Origin of dumbwaiter

First recorded in 1745–55; dumb + waiter

Words nearby dumbwaiter

dumbo, dumb sheave, dumbshit, dumb show, dumbstruck, dumbwaiter, dumdum, dumela, Dumézil, Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use dumbwaiter in a sentence

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.
Mariano Puig, who grew his family business into a fashion powerhouse, dies at 93|Harrison Smith|April 23, 2021|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.
Do I Have to Read Kisser?|William Boot|February 13, 2010|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.
Making a Fireplace|Henry H. Saylor
Shut off from every other means of escape, they remembered the dumbwaiter that ran from the kitchen up to the floors above.
The Young Engineers in Arizona|H. Irving Hancock

The boys would take them off of this dumbwaiter and carry them over on to a little table near the checker stand.
Warren Commission (3 of 26): Hearings Vol. III (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
For it opened upon what seemed to be just a dumbwaiter shaft.
The Bradys' Chinese Clew|Francis Worcester Doughty
All dishes are to be removed quietly, and either placed in a dumbwaiter or given in charge of a maidservant just outside the door.
Social Life|Maud C. Cooke

British Dictionary definitions for dumbwaiter

dumbwaiter

/ (ˈdʌmˌweɪtə) /

noun

British

a stand placed near a dining table to hold food
a revolving circular tray placed on a table to hold foodUS and Canadian name: lazy Susan

a lift for carrying food, rubbish, etc, between floors

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

dumbwaiter

Origin of dumbwaiter

Words nearby dumbwaiter

Words related to dumbwaiter

How to use dumbwaiter in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dumbwaiter