<P> A Lazy Susan or Lazy Suzy is a turntable (rotating tray) placed on a table or countertop to aid in distributing food . Lazy Susans may be made from a variety of materials but are usually glass, wood, or plastic . They are usually circular and placed in the center of a circular table to share dishes easily among diners . Owing to the nature of Chinese cuisine, especially dim sum, they are common at formal Chinese restaurants both on the mainland and abroad . In Chinese, they are simply known as 餐桌 转盘 (p cānzhuō zhuànpán) or "dinner - table turntables". </P> <P> It is likely that the explanation of the term Lazy Susan has been lost to history . Folk etymologies claim it as an American invention and trace its name to a product--Ovington's $8.50 mahogany "Revolving Server or Lazy Susan"--advertised in a 1917 Vanity Fair, but the term's use predates both the advertisement and, probably, the country . </P> <P> Part of the mystery arises from the variety of devices that were grouped under the term dumb waiter (today written dumbwaiter). An early 18th - century British article in The Gentleman's Magazine describes how silent machines had replaced over-garrulous servants at some tables and, by the 1750s, Christopher Smart was praising the "foreign" but discreet devices in verse . It is, however, almost certain that the devices under discussion were wheeled serving trays similar to those introduced by Thomas Jefferson to the United States from France, where they were known as étagères . At some point during or before the 3rd quarter of the 18th century, the name dumb waiter also began to be applied to rotating trays . (Jefferson never had a Lazy Susan at Monticello but he did construct a box - shaped rotating book stand and, as part of serving "in the French style", employed a revolving dining - room door whose reverse side supported a number of shelves .) Finally, by the 1840s, Americans were applying the term to small elevators carrying food between floors as well . The success of George W. Cannon's 1887 mechanical dumbwaiter then popularized this usage, replacing the previous meanings of "dumbwaiter ." </P> <P> The Lazy Susan was initially uncommon enough in the United States for the utopianist Oneida Community to be credited with its invention . They employed the devices as part of their practice of communalism, making food easily and equally available to residents and visitors at meals . An American patent was issued in 1891 to Elizabeth Howell for "certain new and useful Improvements in Self - Waiting Tables". Howell's device ran more smoothly and did not permit crumbs to fall into the space between the Lazy Susan and the table . </P>

Where did the expression lazy susan come from