saltcellar

[sawlt-sel-er]

noun

1. a shaker or dish for salt.

saltcellar

/ ˈsɔːltˌsɛlə /

noun

1. a small container for salt used at the table

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of saltcellar¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of saltcellar¹

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

Example Sentences

She went back inside and returned a few minutes later carrying a saltcellar.

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A building that resembled an overgrown saltcellar lay ahead of us.

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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.

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On the dining table, there is a pepper mill, a saltcellar, bright, clear-skinned clementines arranged in a bowl.

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Ulenspiegel answered: “When the saltcellar, as in our house, is made of a hollow piece of bread, it must be eaten now and then, lest the worms might come in it as it gets old.”

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