tea-water, noun

Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Calque formed on Afrikaans teewater tea, transferred sens of Dutch theewater water for tea.
obs.
An infusion of tea.
Note:
Also found (but only rarely) in obsolete Scottish English and British English dialectal usage.
1827 T. Philipps Scenes & Occurrences 19The waggons had all outspanned; the boors were quietly taking their favourite beverage, tea-water as they call it, and their Hottentots were sitting round the fire.
1827 G. Thompson Trav. 83The mistress of the house, with a tea-urn and chafing-dish before her, dealing out every now and then tea-water, or coffee, and elevating her sharp shrill voice occasionally to keeep the dilatory slaves and Hottentots at their duty.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. II. 120Every one was on his feet in a moment; the meat dish was upset, and the precious ‘tea-water’ spilt in the sand, in the hurry to scramble up the rocks.
1852 H. Ward Jasper Lyle 10One, less shy than the rest, came forward and ventured to offer the ‘tea-water’.
a1862 J. Ayliff Jrnl of ‘Harry Hastings’ (1963) 77You go in again when the farmer’s wife sends you bason of tea (or they call it ‘tea-water’).
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 182The old Juffrouw was pouring out some tea at a small side-table — ‘tea-water’ she called it.
[1902 H.J. Duckitt Hilda’s Diary of Cape Hsekeeper 190The quaint little ‘Kommitje Tee-water’ (little cup of tea), with its pink-and-white flower that looks as though it were made of china.]
1912 E. London Dispatch 26 July 6Making sure the sheep-tail fat and tea-water had not been forgotton, lit his pipe, mounted, and set off with a light heart upon a journey of hundreds of miles.
1937 [see brandewyn sense 1].
An infusion of tea.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18271912

Browse Related Words

By Category

Non-alcoholic Drinks

By Origin

Afrikaans
Dutch

By Usage

obsolete or obsolescent
tearoom, nounn.Teba, nounn.
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.