… Dinner was provided for… . A cover (couvert) in French means knife, fork, spoon, and napkin. Hence, mettre le couvert, to lay the cloth; and lever (or ôter) le couvert, to clear it away.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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