saltcellar
Americannoun
noun
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a small container for salt used at the table
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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.
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
He will be able to handle the only absolutely authenticated Cellini in the world� an exquisite ebony, gold, and enamel saltcellar.
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
She believed that just as the power of her mind could move the saltcellar on the table, she could also produce deaths, earthquakes, and other, even worse catastrophes.
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.
