Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

‖

Noun.

[F.

épargne

a sparing or saving; a treasury. “Our épergne is a little

treasury

of sweetmeats, fruits, and flowers.”

Brewer.

]

A centerpiece for table decoration, usually consisting of several dishes or receptacles of different sizes grouped together in an ornamental design.

See also: epergne

épergne ‎(plural épergnes)

A centerpiece for table decoration, usually consisting of several dishes or receptacles of different sizes grouped together in an ornamental design.
- 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not…, Penguin 2012 (Parade's End), p. 80:
  They made there, on the breakfast-table, a patch, as it were, of mosaic among the silver chafing dishes, silver épergnes filled with peaches in pyramids, and great silver rose-bowls […].