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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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dumb-waiter
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A piece of furniture introduced in England in the mid-18C= so that food and drink could be at hand in the dining room without the need for a servant. It consisted of two or three circular revolving trays, set above each other on a central column with tripod legs. The first recorded use of the word is in *Fanny Hill. Fanny explains that 'a bottle of Burgundy, with the other necessaries, were set on a dumb-waiter', enabling the landlady to remain outside the room while Fanny is seduced by H..., brother to the earl of L... . The word was later applied (first in the USA) to a concealed system of ropes and pulleys bringing food up from the kitchen to other floors in the house.
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