finger bowl

American  

noun

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

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finger bowl British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of finger bowl

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

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.

From 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.

From Washington Post

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

From Washington Post

“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.”

From Los Angeles Times

Andreea recounted the apocryphal story of Queen Victoria, who, upon noticing her foreign guests drinking from their finger bowls, drank from hers as well.

From The New Yorker