Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small shallow dish having a slight circular depression in the center for holding a cup.
  • noun An object similar in shape to a saucer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small dish or pan in which sauce is set on the table; a sauce-dish.
  • noun A small, round, shallow vessel, a little deeper than a plate, upon which a cup, as a tea- or coffee-cup, is placed, and which is designed to retain any liquid which may be spilled from the cup.
  • noun Something resembling a saucer.
  • noun A tobacco adapted by large absorptive capacity to take the ‘sauces’ in vogue in Continental Europe, which are said to consist chiefly of salt, sal-ammoniac, and sugar. See sauce, 6. A German and a Dutch saucer are known to the trade, consisting of varieties of the heavy export type chiefly from Virginia.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A small pan or vessel in which sauce was set on a table.
  • noun A small dish, commonly deeper than a plate, in which a cup is set at table.
  • noun Something resembling a saucer in shape.
  • noun A flat, shallow caisson for raising sunken ships.
  • noun A shallow socket for the pivot of a capstan.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small shallow dish to hold a cup and catch drips.
  • noun An object round and gently curved (shaped like a saucer).
  • noun obsolete A small pan or vessel in which sauce was set on a table.
  • noun A flat, shallow caisson for raising sunken ships.
  • noun A shallow socket for the pivot of a capstan.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun something with a round shape resembling a flat circular plate
  • noun directional antenna consisting of a parabolic reflector for microwave or radio frequency radiation
  • noun a disk used in throwing competitions
  • noun a small shallow dish for holding a cup at the table

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, sauce dish, from Old French saussier, from sauce, sauce; see sauce.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French saucière.

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Examples

  • He does a double take, as he notices that the saucer is extremely old and very valuable.

    The Art Collector 2008

  • He does a double take, as he notices that the saucer is extremely old and very valuable.

    The Art Collector 2008

  • He does a double take, as he notices that the saucer is extremely old and very valuable.

    The Art Collector 2008

  • In a procedure we call 'saucer separation' the command section detaches from the rest of the ship and, under its own impulse power, can rendezvous with a rescue craft or make a surface landing.

    A Flag Full of Stars Brad Ferguson 2000

  • Sitting doubled over, Chinamen have their heads shaven back almost to the crown, when a spot about the size of a tiny saucer is left to bear the crop of hair which forms the pig-tail.

    Nellie Bly's Book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days 1890

  • It could have been a flying saucer from a 1960’s science fiction film.

    365 tomorrows » 2009 » May : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2009

  • Part of me would really like to see the fireworks, but mostly I think America’s cooling saucer is best left in place and not smashed on the mirror in a bar brawl.

    Matthew Yglesias » “Minority Rights” and the US Senate 2010

  • According to Steel, the saucer is more stable and easier to fly than a helicopter and because it has fewer moving parts than a helicopter, it’s easier to build and maintain.

    Real Flying Saucer Eyed by Defense Dept. | Impact Lab 2007

  • When you are ready for a sip, you pour a little into the saucer, which is an art all unto itself, because I always end up with some tea running down the side of the glass.

    The Blog of War Matthew Currier Burden 2006

  • In the saucer were his friends, comrades, and a superior—he could destroy it, but not without hesitation.

    ROGUE SAUCER JOHN VORNHOLT 1996

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