Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Household linen, especially table linen.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Linen cloths used for domestic purposes, especially for the table; table-cloths, napkins, etc.
- noun Linen worn on the person; linen underclothing.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Table linen; also, linen clothing, or linen in general.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Household linen, especially
table linen .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun linens for the dining table
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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A house-keeper should have a large chest to contain napery which is not to be used every day.
Manners and Social Usages Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
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But the tables are set in those restaurants that have napery, such as "Delmonico's, 56 Beaver Street, 2009" and "Caf é Arbat, 306 Brighton Avenue, 2009," as if the curtain has just gone up and we are expected to make an entrance.
Crossing Delicate Borders William Meyers 2010
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There was a flurry of towels, then of napery—fresh tablecloth, fresh napkins—silverware and clean glasses.
Venom Joan Brady 2010
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I must also admit to possessing one of the sillier varieties of napery ever conceived of by the victorians, who so loved to invent single use food accessories, we owe them the asparagus peeler, and the pickle fork, for example, the better to advertise their prosperity, and love of gimmick to their dinner guests.
Blog Rolls Lindy 2009
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I must also admit to possessing one of the sillier varieties of napery ever conceived of by the victorians, who so loved to invent single use food accessories, (we owe them the asparagus peeler, and the pickle fork, for example), the better to advertise their prosperity, and love of gimmick to their dinner guests.
Toast: Lindy 2006
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So, the tray being sat before them, they fell to and ate their fill; and when they had made an end of eating, they rose from meat and washed their hands with pure water and musk-scented soap, and dried them with napery embroidered in silk and bugles; but to Nur al-Din they brought a napkin laced with red gold whereon he wiped his hands.
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The puritan weavers of Glasgow shall provide them plenty of broad-cloth, when we make a descent from the Highlands; and if the ministers could formerly preach the old women of the Scottish boroughs out of their webs of napery, to make tents to the fellows on
A Legend of Montrose 2008
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Out of a similar sideboard, properly draped with white napery and imitation lace, the Bishop had constructed the altar which decorated his oratory.
Les Miserables 2008
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I must also admit to possessing one of the sillier varieties of napery ever conceived of by the victorians, who so loved to invent single use food accessories, (we owe them the asparagus peeler, and the pickle fork, for example), the better to advertise their prosperity, and love of gimmick to their dinner guests.
On About Biscuits Lindy 2006
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British officers ate asparagus and oysters, their tables draped in linen napery, to the strains of “a full military orchestra wailing for the Swanee Ribber.”
Three Empires on the Nile Dominic Green 2007
bilby commented on the word napery
"Lunch was in the dining room which would not have disgraced a moderately good hotel as a dining room. It was spacious with good napery and silverware, and the food was very good."
- 'Windfall', Desmond Bagley.
January 6, 2008
yarb commented on the word napery
The little table in the adjoining room, on which Theron found his meal in waiting for him, seemed a vision of delicate napery and refined appointments in his eyes.
- Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware, ch. 29
August 8, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word napery
"Although The Cookery Year assumed that cooks had enough silver cutlery for five courses, starched linen napery and brightly polished crystal... it contained recipes that a growing band of cooks were aspiring to make...."
--Kate Colquhoun, Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking (NY: Bloomsbury, 2007), 366
January 19, 2017