Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A large table centerpiece consisting of a frame with extended arms or branches supporting holders, as for flowers, fruit, or sweetmeats.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
table centerpiece , usually made ofsilver , generally consisting of a centralbowl withradiating dishes or holders.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The epergne was a beautiful thing of crystal and gold, a celebrated work of art, regarded as an exquisite possession.
T. Tembarom 1913
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"An epergne," Evans said, smiling at the extravagance of it.
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Other times, it is merely the exact word for a thing that sticks in the mind: instead of using the word “centerpiece,” one might say “epergne.”
Tourbillon : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007
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But the dining hall, with its mahogany-lined walls and long refectory table, was empty, the epergne of roses in the centre the only sign of life.
Stay Through The Night Mather, Anne 2006
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Set defiantly in the center of the jacquard tablecloth was a heavy, flamboyantly molded silver epergne, its stand supported by two Rubens-like female figures.
Soul Learner_Tobsha 2006
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“It is not such a dinner as you have seen at her house, with six side-dishes, two flanks, that splendid epergne, and the silver dishes top and bottom; but such as my Rosa has she offers with a willing heart,” cries the Campaigner.
The Newcomes 2006
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A pair of candelabra stood either side of the epergne, their light setting the five or six crystal decanters and the silver serving dishes aglitter.
Soul Learner_Tobsha 2006
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Cheapside, having invested some money in two desks, several pairs of richly-plated candlesticks, a dinner epergne, and a bagatelle-board.
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The dinner epergne remained at chambers, and figured at the banquets there, which the Colonel gave pretty freely.
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They exactly resemble the finest work in frosted silver, the curve of their globular mass of leaves is perfect; and one thinks of them rather as the base of an epergne for an imperial table, or as a prize at Ascot or Goodwood, than as anything organic.
The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004
rolig commented on the word epergne
Enter: two rivers, gracefully bearing
countless little pellucid jellies
in cut-glass epergnes dragging with silver chains.
– Elizabeth Bishop, "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore"
October 10, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word epergne
"...each fishing in strict turn and calling or even shrieking out the name of the catch—sauce tureen, small ladle, large ladle, side-dish, cover, a monstrous epergne and so down to the scores of plates, big and little—until the tables overflowed..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 130
February 29, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word epergne
"Jenny's bookshelf, battered and scarred from the last incursion of Redcoats, three months ago. The big silver epergne. That was slightly dented, but had been too heavy to fit into a soldier's knapsack, and so had escaped the pilfering of smaller objects."
—Diana Gabaldon, Voyager (NY: Dell, 1994), 67
January 14, 2010
knitandpurl commented on the word epergne
"Czech pewterers mend pewter kettles; then the street sellers sell these mended vessels: ewers, cressets (even epergnes)."
Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 104
May 23, 2010