" tea "

[Noun]  | "tea" | \ ˈtē \

1: a widely cultivated shrub (Camellia sinensis of the family Theaceae, the tea family) native to China, northern India, and southeastern Asia and having glossy green leaves and fragrant white flowers

2: the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the tea plant prepared for use in beverages usually by immediate curing by heat or by such curing following a period of fermentation

3: an aromatic beverage prepared from tea leaves by soaking them in boiling water

Origin: 1655 ;

 Borrowed from Chinese (Xiamen) dé;

  * Note : The use of the word tea to mean "inside information" presumably plays on an association of tea drinking with the exchange of gossip. Early use in this sense also see:ms to allude to tea leaves as a means to tell fortunes: "Over the past two weeks I've promised to spill the tea leaves about the Capital Cuppa competition in which readers of this newspaper play a crucial role" (ad in the Marylebone Mercury and other London newspapers, May 7, 1987); "Former White House chief of staff Donald Regan is going to spill the tea leaves about the Reagans' so-called superstitions in his book, due out in a couple of weeks" (Palm Beach Post, May 5, 1988, p. 49). Tea meaning "gossip" (without spilling or leaves) is an integral part of the lexicon of gay Harlem, documented by William Hawkeswood in One of the Children: Gay Black Men in Harlem (University of California Press, 1996; the author completed the text before his death in 1992). It has been suggested that the origin of tea as "gossip" might lie not in the literal meaning, but rather its adaptation as a spelled form of the letter T. The drag queen who went by the name The Lady Chablis used "my T" to refer to—as she put it in one source—"my thing, my business, what's goin' on in my life" and in another "my T, my Truth." The Lady Chablis is quoted extensively in John Berendt's "non-fiction novel" Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (New York, 1994), and spoke for herself in her autobiography Hiding My Candy: The Autobiography of the Grand Empress of Savannah (New York, 1996). As she explained in "The Lady Chablis Lexicon" at the end of the autobiography, "to know my T, to tell my T" is equivalent to "knowing where my candy's hidden; knowing that I even have candy," i.e., knowing that she is transgender and was born with male sex organs. The lexicon also lists "pour the tea," glossed as to "Tell The Doll the truth, or dish the dirt!", but the fact that she treated this as a distinct usage would lead one to believe that tea in this sense is not identical with her own use of T. If Chablis's is actually dependent on tea, it is, in any case, after-the-fact word play on an existing meaning and cannot be claimed as the origin of the "gossip" sense.;

[Noun]  | "tea bag" 

1: a bag usually of filter paper holding enough tea for an individual serving

Origin: 1935 ;

[Noun]  | "tea ball" 

1: a perforated metal ball that holds tea leaves and is used in brewing tea in a pot or cup

Origin: 1886 ;

[Noun]  | "tea caddy" 

1: caddy

Origin: 1784 ;

[Noun]  | "tea cake" 

1: a small flat cake usually made with raisins

2: cookie

Origin: 1805 ;

[Noun]  | "tea cart" 

1: tea wagon

Origin: 1817 ;

[Noun]  | "tea dance" 

1: a dance held in the late afternoon

Origin: 1885 ;

[Noun]  | "tea garden" 

1: a public garden where tea and light refreshments are served

2: a tea plantation

Origin: 1780 ;

[Noun]  | "tea gown" 

1: a semiformal gown of fine materials in graceful flowing lines worn especially for afternoon entertaining at home

Origin: 1878 ;

[Noun]  | "tea light" 

1: a small cylindrical candle that is usually less than 1 inch in height and that is usually set in a holder (as of metal or plastic); also : a battery-operated artificial candle of similar size and shape —sometimes hyphenated before another noun

Origin: 1978 ;

 So called from the use of such candles to keep a pot of tea hot;

[Noun]  | "tea" 

[Noun]  | "tea shops" 

[Noun]  | "tea party" 

[Noun]  | "tea gown" 

[Noun]  | "tea tables" 

[Noun]  | "tea table" 

[Noun]  | "tea parties" 

[Noun]  | "tea gowns" 

[Noun]  | "tea shop" 

[Noun]  | "tea cake"