About Charger Plate ?

For those of you that have not dined in a really elegant restaurant lately, a charger plate is a large dish that is on the table when you are seated and other plates and dishes are placed, or loaded, on top of it. The term is either from the Anglo-Norman chargeour meaning that which loads, or from the Old French chargeoir meaning a utensil that is used to load (in this case food onto a dish). The command "charge your glasses" traditionally given before toast is of the same origin. The term dates to the early 14th century.