dumb waiter

Noun

dumbwaiter (plural dumbwaiters)

1. A small elevator used to move food etc. from one floor of a building to another.
   • When writing he had a copyin machine: while he was a-writin he wouldn't suffer nobody to come in his room: had a dumb-waiter: when he wanted anything he had nothin to do but turn a crank and the dumb-waiter would bring him water or fruit on a plate or anything he wanted.1951, Isaac Jefferson, chapter 9, in Memoirs Of A Monticello Slave, University Of Virginia Press, page 27
2. (obsolete) A table or set of trays on rollers used for serving food.
   • Sauces, wines, all the accessories we wanted, and all of the best, were given out by our host from his dumbwaiter; and when they had made the circuit of the table, he always put them back again.1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VII, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 110
3. (obsolete) A lazy Susan.