tray cloth
- noun
:
mantelito
- She carefully placed a clean tray cloth on the tray before serving tea.
Examples
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The waiter placed a clean tray cloth on the table.
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He spilled coffee on the tray cloth, so it needed to be washed.
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The hotel room service always includes a neatly folded tray cloth with the breakfast tray.
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Can you pass me the tray cloth?
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She placed the delicate china teacups on the embroidered tray cloth before serving her guests.
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The waiter carefully arranged the food on the shiny tray cloth to impress the diners.
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To protect the furniture, they used a colorful tray cloth when serving drinks at the party.
Synonyms
215
1.0
A piece of material made by joining threads together and used for making clothes or for cleaning
7
1.0
A small piece cut from a larger material used to make or fix clothes
A small cloth put on a table when serving tea
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small piece of table linen used to cover a tray' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'tray' (a flat container for serving) with 'cloth' (a piece of textile). This straightforward noun+noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Tray cloth comes from the simple idea of a small cloth put on a tray when people serve food or drinks. Picture a neat cloth stopping cups from sliding and protecting the tray, so it means 'a small piece of table linen used to cover a tray'.