▪ I. † ˈsalver1 Obs. rare.
Also salvour.
[f. salve v. + -er1.]
One who salves or heals; applied to Christ or the Virgin Mary.
| 14.. Tundale's Vis. (1843) 146 Heyle tho saluer of our solace. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 4 Heil comeli queene,..Heil þe saluour of al sore! c 1440 York Myst. xxv. 507 Hayll! saluer of our sores sere. a 1500–34 Coventry Corpus Chr. Plays, Weavers 956 But I troo amonst vs he [Christ] be sent To be the saluer of owre sore. |
▪ II. salver2
(ˈsælvə(r))
Also 7 salvor.
[Formed (with suffix -er after platter or some other word of like meaning) on F. salve (1666 in Hatz.-Darm.), a tray used for presenting certain objects to the king, ad. Sp. salva (= Pg. salva), primarily ‘a foretasting, as to a prince’ (Minsheu 1617), the ‘assaying’ of food or drink (= credence n. 6), and hence a tray or salver on which the cup was placed when the tasting had shown that its contents were free from danger (cf. credence n. 7), f. salvo safe a. or salvar to save, render safe, to ‘assay’ food or drink. Cf. the synon. server (late 17th c.).
Minsheu 1617 explains Sp. salva as ‘the lid of the cup, in which it is customary to taste the drink before presenting it to a prince’, but this is perh. a misunderstanding.]
A tray, used for handing refreshments or for presenting letters, visiting-cards, etc.
For the earlier sense, see quot. 1661.
| 1661 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 2), Salver (from salvo, to save) is a new fashioned peece of wrought plate, broad and flat, with a foot underneath, and is used in giving Beer, or other liquid thing, to save the Carpit or Cloathes from drops. 1685 in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 242 Presented for the use of this Ch. one Silver Salver. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2068/4, 3 Silver Porringers, 3 Salvors one of them deep, two flat. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 160 These Dishes have feet like our Salvers, but almost half a Foot high. 1701 Farquhar Sir H. Wildair ii. i, Where are my new japan salvers? 1729 Swift Direct. Serv. i. Wks. 1751 XIV. 19 Gather the Droppings and Leavings, out of the several Cups and Glasses and Salvers, into one. 1731 Pope Ep. Burlington 159 Between each Act the trembling salvers ring, From soup to sweetwine, and God bless the King. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman xxii. (1841) I. 207 Six fine large silver salvers to serve sweetmeats. 1759 Compl. Lett.-writer (ed. 6) 229 The company treated..with morning salvers of champaigne. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xl, Nor would he permit her to break off a fragment, and lay the rest on the salver. 1842 Mrs. Kirkland Forest Life I. 238 Great trays of tea and coffee and bounteous salvers of cake, biscuits [etc.]. 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. xv, Always brings in a letter on a salver. 1874 G. J. Whyte-Melville Uncle John xiv. II. 96 A ubiquitous mess-waiter..presently appeared with the visitor's card on a salver. 1888 M. Robertson Lombard St. Myst. iv, On the silver salver enriching the hall-table. |
† b. ? A dish on which a jelly or the like is served up for the table.
| 1747–96 H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 332 If you want it for the middle, turn it out upon a salver. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 187 When you turn them [the jellies] out, dip your bason in warm water,..then turn your dish or salver upon the top of your bason, and turn your bason upside down. |
c. Comb. salver-shaped a. (Bot.) = hypocrateriform.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. iii. (1776) 7 Hypocrateriform, Salver-shaped. 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 218 Vinca... Bloss. salver-shaped. 1849 Balfour Man. Bot. §380 Hypocrateriform or salver-shaped [corolla], when there is a straight tube surmounted by a flat spreading limb, as in Primula. 1877–84 F. E. Hulme Wild Fl. p. x, Larger Periwinkle.—Corolla salver-shaped. |
▪ III. salver
obs. form of salvor.