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silent butler

American

noun

a small receptacle having a handle and a hinged lid, used for collecting the contents of ashtrays, crumbs from a dinner table, etc., for disposal.

Etymology

Origin of silent butler

First recorded in 1935–40

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.

Why is Fred handed an overcoat at various times by a silent butler?

From Seattle Times • Mar. 20, 2013

The silent butler drew forward a chair for Orde, and stood looking impassively in Mrs. Bishop's direction.

From The Riverman by White, Stewart Edward

The silent butler waiting on the guests had appeared behind the doctor's chair, and was saying something in the low, level tones of the well-trained servant.

From The Trees of Pride by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)

They had wine to dinner, and were waited on by a discreet and silent butler.

From A History of the Moravian Church by Hutton, Joseph Edmund

His face was so expressionless, his mouth so tightly closed, and his air of concentration on the business in hand so intense, that he seemed the perfect type of the silent butler.

From Simon by Clouston, J. Storer (Joseph Storer)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023