saucer
Americannoun
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a small, round, shallow dish to hold a cup.
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something resembling a saucer, as in shape.
noun
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a small round dish on which a cup is set
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any similar dish
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of saucer
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Old French word saussier. See sauce, -er 2
Explanation
A saucer is a small, rounded dish that sits beneath a tea or coffee cup. Other kinds of saucers include objects with a similar round shape — like a flying saucer. Saucers that live under cups are useful for catching drips from and protecting the table. Many mugs and cups come without saucers, but the cups in a traditional tea service have matching saucers, and coffee cups at a restaurant or cafe are also frequently served with saucers. Objects with a similar round shape can also be called saucers, including flying saucers and saucer-shaped TV antennas. The very earliest saucers were small sauce dishes, and the word stems from the Latin salsus, or "sauce."
Vocabulary lists containing saucer
Novel Study: Ten Days in a Mad-House, Chapters I–X
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 6
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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.
Beneath the Golden Saucer there’s a dust bowl, a result of the power plants installed to fuel its neon lights.
From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2024
At the Cup and Saucer tea shop, a couple of minute's drive from the community hall, the bunting is up, the royal crockery is ready and a special coronation brew has been prepared.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2023
“If even 1 in 1000 guests did this we’d all be better,” responded the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Houston.
From Washington Post • Feb. 17, 2022
The area just north of the Saucer has good numbers of reds and trout in the flats.
From Washington Times • Sep. 23, 2020
Now, when the Saucers were sighted, the Watcher phoned in a report, some bored plotter in Saucer Control took bearings and speed, or replied that they had the thing on radar.
From What Rough Beast? by Highe, Jefferson
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.
