finger bowl

noun

1. a small bowl to hold water for rinsing the fingers at table.

finger bowl

noun

1. a small bowl filled with water for rinsing the fingers at the table after a meal

Word History and Origins

Origin of finger bowl¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

Angling to dine with the British royals, the extended Trump family reminds a colleague of the ’60s sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies,” poised to flip the finger bowls.

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But finger bowls are rarely used now, and then only at fancy dinners where they serve no real purpose, instead of at barbecues and lobster feasts, where they would.

Read more on Washington Post

That’s because she thinks of manners as something far more fundamental than a nitpicky code governing the proper use of finger bowls.

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The only difference now is diners would prefer sanitizer in their finger bowls.

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“But in terms of the pageantry of etiquette, of fish forks and finger bowls, the sort of thing that people who went to finishing school in Switzerland might learn? I didn’t have that growing up.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times