the.com/tableware
The supporting cast of dinner, hoping someone notices the good china for once.
means The collective term for dishes, cutlery, and glassware used to serve and eat a meal.
from Plain English compounding: the ware (goods, from Old English waru) you keep at the table, coined in the 1830s as households grew fancier and naming the stuff became necessary.
Split familiesDinnerware, flatware, glassware, and serveware are subcategories.
Status objectForks were once mocked as decadent and unmanly.
Material rangeSpans gold leaf to disposable plastic forks.