saltcellar
Americannoun
noun
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a small container for salt used at the table
-
informal either of the two hollows formed above the collarbones of very slim people
Etymology
Origin of saltcellar
1400–50; salt 1 + 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 sal salt 1 + -ārius -ary
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"He can be directing a complicated scene with actors and be able to pay attention not only to its meaning but to whether a saltcellar on the table is out of position."
From Time Magazine Archive
Benin bronzes, Congolese woods, and a magnificent Afro-Portuguese ivory saltcellar are. among the 130 works of African sculpture from the superb collection of Jay C. Leff.
From Time Magazine Archive
As late as the 18th century, the rank of guests at a banquet was gauged by where they sat in relation to an often elaborate silver saltcellar on the table.
From Time Magazine Archive
At meals he propped a book against the saltcellar, read gloomily.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nivea would pull Clara’s braids and that would be enough to wake her daughter from her mad distraction and return the saltcellar to immobility.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
