tessie, noun

/ˈtesi/
Origin:
Afrikaans.
a. komfoor sense a. b. A small fire-pan of iron or copper for holding the coals in a komfoor.
1949 L.G. Green In Land of Afternoon 203There, too, is a noteworthy silver tessie, lined with copper and designed to hold the charcoal embers from which smokers lit their pipes.
1955 V.M. Fitzroy Dark Bright Land 92The impeccable tessies and salvers, snuff-boxes and muffineers that came out of the silversmith’s dark little lairs.
1965 A. Gordon-Brown S. Afr. Heritage II. 17As Cape silversmiths were mainly engaged in making articles for domestic needs, their largest output was of spoons and forks (flatware)...There were many other articles, all of them rare, such as sugar and sweet dishes, tessies, salvers, Bible clasps [etc.].
1965 A. Gordon-Brown S. Afr. Heritage II. 18Cape Silver Smoker’s Tessie (to contain live coals for lighting pipes).
1965 M.G. Atmore Cape Furn. 85The charcoal container or tessie was inserted either through a gap left in one side or by removing the perforated top..of the box.
1971 Baraitser & Obholzer Cape Country Furn. 265The only way of keeping warm..was to sit with one’s feet resting on a foot warmer..A small wooden box, generally square..held a pan or tessie of glowing charcoal.
1972 Informant, Stellenbosch MuseumThe tessie or kolebakkie is the small dish into which the glowing coals or embers are actually placed...The tessie is then put into a voetstofie or konfoor...Most voetstofies and konfore found today are without their tessies...The tessie used on the table..was often made of silver..mounted on a wooden base, and always had a shallow copper lining in the bottom to protect the silver from the heat.
1973 M.A. Cook Cape Kitchen 63Inside the brass konfoor was a slightly smaller tessie, which was made of semispherical copper..or of thin straight-sided sheet-iron...This inner tessie was the actual receptacle for the ‘live coal’.
1977 N. Okes in Quarry ’77 137She broke matches into..the old Cape silver tessie she used as an ashtray.
A small fire-pan of iron or copper for holding the coals in a komfoor.
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Afrikaans
terry, nounn.Test, nounn.
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