Also 8 epergn, epargne. [perh. a corruption of Fr. épargne saving, economy; cf. quot. 1779; but there is no evidence to show how the word acquired its present meaning.] A center-dish, or center ornament for the dinner-table, now often in a branched form, each branch supporting a small dish for desert or the like, or a vase for flowers. (From our quots. it appears that the earlier use was chiefly to hold pickles.)
1761. Bill of Fare, in Pennant, London (1813), 562. 2 Grand Epergnes filled with fine Pickles.
1775. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), 199. That Mr Mayor be desir’d to order a handsome silver Epergn.
1779. Mackenzie, in Mirror, No. 34 § 6. In the centre … stood a sumptuous epargne, filled [with sweetmeats].
1804. Verses to Dr. Warton, in Ann Reg., 928. [His pupils present him with an epergne on his resigning the head-mastership of Winchester, hoping that it may remind him ‘of “Pickles” left behind’].
1819. Banquet, 60. Waiter, epergne, and tankard, beaker, vase.
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., xi. An epergne or centre-piece of some kind was in the middle of the cloth.
