A Lazy Susan is a rotating tray

Tray

A tray is a shallow platform designed for carrying things. It is larger than a salver, a diminutive version commonly used for lighter and smaller servings, and it can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, wood, melamine, and papier-mâché...

, usually circular, placed on top of a table

Table (furniture)

A table is a form of furniture with a flat and satisfactory horizontal upper surface used to support objects of interest, for storage, show, and/or manipulation...

 to aid in moving food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

 on a large table or countertop

Countertop

Countertop usually refers to a horizontal worksurface in kitchens or other food preparation areas, bathrooms or lavatories, and workrooms in general. It is frequently installed upon and supported by cabinets...

.

Origin

The term "Lazy Susan" made its first written appearance in a Good Housekeeping' article in 1906, although their existence dates back to the 18th century. Prior to the use of the term 'Lazy Susan', they were referred to as dumbwaiters

Dumbwaiter (elevator)

Dumbwaiters are small freight elevators intended to carry objects rather than people. Dumbwaiters found within modern structures, including both commercial and private buildings, are often connected between two floors...

, a term today applied to a small elevator for transporting food. There is no clear evidence as to the origin of the Susan part of Lazy Susan.

The Lazy Susan can be made from a variety of materials, commonly plastic, wood, or glass.

Uses

The Lazy Susan is commonly used in many Chinese restaurants (and other places as well) to facilitate dishes being ordered communally and shared.

Other uses

This term may also refer to corner cabinets on which the shelves are mounted on a vertical axle such that items may be retrieved by pushing on the shelves to turn them. This type is usually found in kitchens. When closed, this type of Lazy Susan appears to be two normal cabinets at right angles to each other. When pushed on, the cabinet 'doors' reveal the shelves, which are circular except for the ninety degree cut-out where the doors are mounted.

Lazy Susan is also used to describe any type of small, hand-rotated flat platform, e.g. a rotating spice rack for a kitchen cabinet

Kitchen cabinet

Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes for table service. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated into kitchen cabinetry...

, a rotating TV/monitor platform, a rotating platform used to aid manual tasks like sculpture, model building, electronics repair and fabrication, etc.. A larger or motor-operated rotating platform is typically referred to as a turntable.

In the context of maintenance engineering, the term Lazy Susan may also be used to describe a device designed to aid artisans in manual activities as a way of avoiding Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders

Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders

Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders are disorders of the muscles, skeleton and related tissues which have been empirically shown or are suspected to have been caused by a workplace activity , for this reason the term Repetitive strain injury is sometimes used to describe WMSD's, although not...

 (WRMDs). The term is also used in a military context to refer to manually or electronically operated weapons turntables.

In the 1982 Disney Film Herbie Goes Bananas

Herbie Goes Bananas

Herbie Goes Bananas is the fourth of a series of films made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie – the white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. The film stars former Mel Brooks collaborators Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman....

, a lazy susan-style chassis was constructed for Herbie #14 which allowed the vehicle to rotate in a 360 Degree Turnstyle during the film's bullfighting sequence.

Certain editions of the table-top game Scrabble

Scrabble

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...

 include a Lazy Susan in the base to facilitate turning the board to face each player.

A Lazy Susan featured as the railway turntable in the British children's television show, Thomas The Tank Engine

Thomas the Tank Engine

Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...

(1979).