chiffonier

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English

Chiffonier of unspecified date

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French chiffonnier.

Pronunciation

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Noun

chiffonier (plural chiffoniers)

  1. A tall, elegant chest of drawers, often with a mirror attached.
    • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , published 1842, →OCLC, pages 219–220:
      "There is nothing of the kind even within view," cried Helen, warmly, "nor any one object that could offend the most fastidious eye, as Mrs. Palmer observed; a duchess might delight in it; every thing is so clean without, and so good within: such beautiful carpets and rugs to match! such handsome chiffoniers, and elegant books!...
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
    • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 71:
      From the half-open drawers of this chiffonnier hung laces, ribands, stockings, ladies' underclothing and an abdominal brace, which gave the impression that the feminine finery had suffered venery.
  2. One who gathers rags and odds and ends; a ragpicker.
  3. A receptacle for rags or shreds.

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