trivet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small stand or heat-resistant mat placed under a hot dish or pan to protect a table or work surface

   She set the hot casserole on a cork trivet in the center of the table.

2. 2
   noun

   a three-legged metal stand used to support a cooking vessel over a fire

   The cook balanced the iron pot on a trivet above the glowing coals.

3. 3
   noun

   used in the dated expression 'right as a trivet' to mean perfectly well, sound, or satisfactory

   Jack insists that Gwendolen is as right as a trivet and considers them engaged.

From Middle English trevet and Old English trefet, probably through Old French from Latin tripes, triped- ('three-footed'), formed from tri- ('three') + pes, ped- ('foot'). The modern table protector developed from the older three-legged cooking stand.

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