epergne

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Overpowering her dire confusion, in obedience to him, she looked at the epergne, and listened.

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Definitions (3)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A large table centerpiece consisting of a frame with extended arms or branches supporting holders, as for flowers, fruit, or sweetmeats.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • A large epergne, studded with lit beeswax candles, dominated its center. —  FSF,January2008
  • One woman on Saturday had Williams appraise a large cupid-adorned epergne centerpiece with some significant damage.
  • This was it that elicited the anxious self-asked interrogatories After giving utterance to them, she paced backward and forward; now standing in the portal and gazing along the road; now returning to the sola de comida_, to look upon the table, with cloth spread, wines decantered, fruits and flowers on the epergne--all but the dishes that waited serving till Valerian should show himself To look on something besides--a portrait that hung upon the wall, underneath her own. —  The Lone Ranche
  • Nothing would have been more difficult than to explain why it was that Pansey Cottrell should be as essential to a fashionable dinner party as the epergne. —  Belles and Ringers
  • Everybody else was doing exactly what everybody pleased, when Mrs. Applebite's uncle John emerged from behind an epergne, and vociferously commanded everybody to charge their glasses; a requisition which nobody was bold enough to dispute. —  Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete
 

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This word has been looked up 98 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps alteration of French épargne, a saving, from épargner, to save, from Old French espargnier, of Germanic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. apparently from French épargne, thrift, economy, though the connection is not clear. The French word equivalent to epergne, especially in the sense of a purely ornamental or artistic piece, is surtout.
 

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/ɛˈpɛrn/
by American Heritage

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