sideboard
Americannoun
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a piece of furniture, as in a dining room, often with shelves, drawers, etc., for holding articles of table service.
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Slang. sideboards, side whiskers.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sideboard
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at side 1, board
Compare meaning
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Explanation
A sideboard is a piece of furniture that can be used for storing tableware and table linens, or for serving platters of food. That flat-topped cabinet in your dining room with a drawer full of cloth napkins? That's a sideboard. Another word for a sideboard is a buffet. Not every dining room has one, but if your house has space, a sideboard can be a handy place to display your prettiest serving dishes or set out food at Thanksgiving so your guests can serve themselves. Sideboard gets its name from its traditional place, at one side of a dining room. This piece of furniture became popular in wealthy 18th and 19th century households.
Vocabulary lists containing sideboard
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.
A massive Ruhlmann sideboard, first made in 1920, is inlaid with an ivory marquetry pattern that suggests—to me, least—soap bubbles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
"It went from having nine bottles on my mum and dad's sideboard in the kitchen, to a shelf, to buying my own shed," Mr Luke told BBC News.
From BBC • Sep. 1, 2024
To demonstrate how she does it, Schuster recently created a bar on a vintage Jacques Adnet sideboard in the dining room of her SoHo loft.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 29, 2024
He specializes in restoring midcentury items, such as a sideboard by the Danish designer Ib Kofod-Larsen and a dressing table by the British design company Archie Shine.
From New York Times • Jul. 12, 2023
As it turned out, I did not see her again until the afternoon, when, as I say, I came across her in the dining room, replacing crockery into the sideboard.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
