ˈtea-cup
a. (a) A cup from which tea is drunk: usually of small or moderate size, with a handle.
| 1700 Congreve Way of World iv. xi, Let Mahometan Fools..be damned over Tea-Cups and Coffee. 1714 Addison Lover No. 10 ¶4 The fashion of the teacup..has run through a wonderful variety of colour, shape, and size. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 235 While broken tea-cups..Ranged o'er the chimney, glistened in a row. 1884 H. P. Spofford in Harper's Mag. Nov. 889/1 In a sort of Oriental divination they always turned their tea-cups,..after the tea-drinking which they loved. Mod. The subject has been mentioned ‘over the tea-cups’ [i.e. unofficially; speaking of the establishment of a public institution]. |
(b) With reference to fortune-telling by means of interpreting the arrangement of tea-leaves left in a cup. Cf. tea-leaf 1.
| 1883 C. S. Burne Shropshire Folk-Lore xxi. 277 The apparitions which..nurses used to discover in their tea-cups when they had..emptied the last remains of the tea in such a manner as to leave the dregs scattered well over the bottom and sides of the cup. 1921 C. Kent Fortune-Telling by Tea-Leaves ii. 24 A confused looking tea-cup, without any symbols..is useless for the purpose of divination. 1954 M. Sharp Gipsy in Parlour xii. 127 Cook..had an eye for tall dark strangers, who frequently appeared in her tea-cup. 1976 A. E. Lindop in Winter's Crimes 8 216 She can ‘see’ what's best for us... She'll look into our teacups. |
b. As much as a tea-cup contains, a teacupful.
| 1757 Pultney in Phil. Trans. L. 81 She took something more than a tea-cup of the infusion. |
c. Phr. a storm in a tea-cup: a great commotion in a circumscribed circle, or about a matter of small or only local importance: see storm. Similarly tea-cup storm, etc.
| 1854 W. B. Bernard (title) A storm in a teacup. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xix, She has raised a storm in a tea-cup by her..unwarranted assault. 1884 Pall Mall G. 19 Sept. 4/1 M. Renan's visit..to his birthplace in Brittany has raised a storm in the clerical teacup. 1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impr. 360 Here the storm in the Oxford tea⁓cup raged as furiously as in the open sea. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Sept. 639/1 Those old disputes were no teacup squalls. 1951 Sport 16–22 Mar. 14/3 Earlier this season a slight ‘teacup storm’ occurred in Yorkshire Rugby Union circles. 1981 W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 15 Feb. 11/1 In the midst of this teacup contretemps came a clear message from John Radosta. |
d. attrib. tea-cup-and-saucer comedy, comedy of a mild and ‘proper’ character.
| 1830 Tennyson Talking Oak xvi, Beauties, that were born In teacup-times of hood and hoop, Or while the patch was worn. 1895 Athenæum 8 June 748/2 ‘Tea-cup-and-saucer comedy’..was the invention of Thomas Purnell. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 2/3 A little too much like..the tea-cup business of Alice in Wonderland. 1902 Daily Chron. 23 Sept. 3/3 Young girls..find a gentle interest in her mild heroics of tea-cup-and-saucer comedy. |
Hence ˈteacupful, as much as a tea-cup will contain. (Pl. teacupfuls; erron. tea-cups full.)
| 1705 Phil. Trans. XXV. 1790 [I] took about a Tea-cupful. 1789 Pilkington View Derby. I. viii. 355 The dose 2 tea⁓cups full or more. 1838 Q. Jrnl. Agric. IX. 290 A salt⁓spoonful of salt and a tea-cupful of warm water. |