Definitions

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

  • noun A tray for serving food or drinks.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who salves or saves goods, a vessel, etc., from destruction or loss by fire, shipwreck, etc.
  • noun One who salves or cures, or one who pretends to cure: as, a quacksalver.
  • noun A tray, especially a large and heavy one, upon which anything is offered to a person, as in the service of the table.

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

  • noun A salvor.
  • noun A tray or waiter on which anything is presented.
  • noun obsolete One who salves, or uses salve as a remedy; hence, a quacksalver, or quack.

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

  • noun A tray used to display or serve food.
  • noun One who salves or saves goods, etc. from destruction or loss.
  • noun One who salves or cures.
  • noun One who pretends to cure; quacksalver.

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

  • noun a tray (or large plate) for serving food or drinks; usually made of silver

Etymologies

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

[Alteration of French salve, from Spanish salva, tasting of food to detect poison, salver, from salvar, to save, taste food to detect poison, from Late Latin salvāre, to save; see salvage.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alteration of Spanish salva ("plate, foretasting of viands prior to serving"), from salvar ("to save, taste food for one's master"), from Latin salvō ("save", v). More at save.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From salve (“to save”) +‎ -er.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English *salvere, from Old English *sealfere ("salver, one who anoints"), equivalent to salve +‎ -er. Cognate with Dutch zalver ("salver"), German Salber ("salver").

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Examples

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  • From "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg" by Guy Davenport.

    January 19, 2010