tray
/treɪ
/noun
A flat, shallow container with a raised rim, typically used for carrying food and drink, or for holding small items or loose material: they ate supper off a tray in front of the fire a baking tray seed trays...
- He watched as a line of servers carried silver trays stacked with food in the direction the men had gone.
- Brad and Julia tramped up the stairs, each carrying a tray laden with food and cups of coffee.
- Miranda dismissed the other servants as she proceeded to prepare a tray of food and drink.
Derivatives
trayful
- Many traditional-style meals are on the current school menu, but children who opt for the ‘Stop, Pick and Go’ menu can potentially come away with a high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar trayful of snacks like pizza and crisps.
- One trayful of food was burned - purely for theatrical effect.
- A souvenir seller enters with a trayful of statues of the gods and offers to tell them stories.
Origin
Late Old English trīg, from the Germanic base of tree; the primary sense may have been 'wooden container'.
Late Old English trīg is from the Germanic base of tree (Old English). The primary sense may have been ‘wooden container’. Trough (Old English) had a primary meaning of ‘wooden vessel’ and is related. The notion of a downturn on a graph or similar representation dates from the late 19th century in meteorology, the early 20th century in economics, and generally (peaks and troughs) from the 1930s.