Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dumbwaiter

/ˈdʌmˌweɪtəɹ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.78 in modern English

Syllables: dumb-wait-er
IPA: /ˈdʌmˌweɪtəɹ/

18

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A small elevator used to move food etc. from one floor of a building to another.

noun

A table or set of trays on rollers used for serving food.

Obsolete

noun

Obsolete

Example Sentences

"When writing he had a copyin machine: while he was a-writin he wouldn't suffer nobody to come in his room: had a dumb-waiter: when he wanted anything he had nothin to do but turn a crank and the dumb-waiter would bring him water or fruit on a plate or anything he wanted."
"Sauces, wines, all the accessories we wanted, and all of the best, were given out by our host from his dumbwaiter; and when they had made the circuit of the table, he always put them back again."

Etymology

From dumb (“unable to speak”) + waiter, originally separate words and describing the portable table's inability to relate gossip after the meal. By the use of the term to describe small service elevators in American homes in the 1840s, it simply meant dumb as “mechanical”, “unable to speak at all”.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈdʌmˌweɪtəɹ/

Usage

Obsolete

Inflected Forms

dumbwaiters (plural) dumb waiter (alternative) dumb-waiter (alternative)

Synonyms

food elevator

Questions

How do you pronounce dumbwaiter?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈdʌmˌweɪtəɹ/.
What does dumbwaiter mean?: A small elevator used to move food etc. from one floor of a building to another.
Where does dumbwaiter come from?: From dumb (“unable to speak”) + waiter, originally separate words and describing the portable table's inability to relate gossip after the meal. By the use of the term to describe small service elevators in American homes in the 1840s, it simply meant dumb as “mechanical”, “unable to speak at all”.

How to pronounce dumbwaiter

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dumbwaiter”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈdʌmˌweɪtəɹ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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