tea-water
A Scottish dialectal expression for tea itself, or the water used to make tea.
Definitions
A Scottish dialectal expression for tea itself, or the water used to make tea. The first sense -- tea as 'tea-water' -- is a colloquial synecdoche, naming the drink after one of its components. The term is informal and distinctly regional. Outside Scotland it would not be understood as a natural way to refer to tea, making it an immediately localizing piece of vocabulary.
Put the kettle on for tea-water -- everyone's about ready for a break.
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A Scottish colloquial term for tea — simple, direct, and very Scottish. Where the English might just say 'a cup of tea', the Scots sometimes reach for 'tea-water', treating the drink as a straightforward compound. It also literally refers to the water used for brewing tea, but in Scottish informal usage, it's just another way of saying you're putting the kettle on.
Come away in, I'll get the tea-water on and you can tell me all about it.
Comments
Water that is used in the preparation of tea.
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(Scotland) Tea.
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Informal slang for coffee, playing on the fact that coffee is brewed from roasted coffee beans — making it, technically, bean water. The term is used affectionately and humorously by coffee drinkers and detractors alike; the slightly reductive label can be self-deprecating ('I need my beanwater') or mock-dismissive ('just beanwater'). A secondary, older sense refers to actual water in which beans have been cooked, and a regional New England US sense meant high spirits or energy (possibly via the stimulant association). The coffee sense is the most current.
- beanwater63%
(slang) Coffee.