Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
desserte porte-linge
English translation:
linen trolley
French term
Words are my passion, style my watchword
Native in: English (Variants: UK, Canadian) 
Works in: French to English
La desserte porte-linge
La desserte porte-linge est de série
Is it simply the 'towel bar' service/set?
Apparently it can be customised to take on different types of accessories.
TIA
| 3 +2 | linen trolley |
Tony M
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| 4 | clean linen cabinet |
liz askew
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| Using Google images |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
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Aug 3, 2016 21:30: Rachel Fell changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Aug 5, 2016 07:25: Tony M Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (3): Drmanu49, writeaway, Rachel Fell
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Proposed translations
linen trolley
| I think we have found a winner, thanks vm. |
| agree |
B D Finch
16 hrs
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Thanks, B! :-)
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| agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
19 hrs
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Thanks, Nikki!
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clean linen cabinet
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Note added at 22 mins (2016-08-03 16:57:11 GMT)
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BTW
serviette = towel!
| Liz re serviette > 'towel', I was tired at the time but I actually did find 'towel bar' for this term in my research. Thank you for the link, so much easier when you have pictures in these types of docs. |
| neutral |
Tony M
: I wouldn't expect a 'desserte' to be a cabinet, more usually some kind of trolley
28 mins
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| neutral |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: cabinets on wheels can certainly be moved around, but it is generally in order to clean behind them, rather than to push them from place to palce to "serve" the linen, as you would a "dessserte", thus a trolley
19 hrs
|
Reference comments
Psychologist, Court-certified legal
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English
Using Google images
A quick hint on how to fast-track this type of term. If you do a Google search with images, you will immediately recognise what is being described. It can take many shapes or forms, but I guess when you see this, you will have a few ideas for solutions in English :
https://www.google.fr/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&es...
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Note added at 20 hrs (2016-08-04 12:43:11 GMT)
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And, as an idea of one translation tah immedaitely comes to mind, do the same search with "linen trolley", for example :
https://www.google.fr/search?q=linen trolley&biw=1920&bih=94...
| Thanks Nikki, I have tried that, sometimes it is helpful and sometimes not. Maybe I'll get better at it. And if I do find the image, I am still not always confident of the term. Thanks again for taking the time, this is not really one of my speciality area, I guess it shows. |
Discussion
porte-linge = linen
see here for desserte:
http://www.gifi.fr/366959-desserte-a-roulettes-blanche.html
it could even be a linen trolley
2. desserte can = sideboard/cabinet