dumb waiter
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A piece of dining-room furniture, fitted with shelves, to hold glasses, dishes, and plate. So called because it answers all the purposes of a waiter, and is not possessed of a tongue.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “dumb waiter” mean?
A piece of dining-room furniture, fitted with shelves, to hold glasses, dishes, and plate. So called because it answers all the purposes of a waiter, and is not possessed of a tongue.
Is “dumb waiter” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.