| 释义 |
ˈtea-pot, n.
1. a. A pot with a lid, spout, and handle, in which tea is made or brought to table.
[1616Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 215, I sent..a silver chaw pot..to Capt. China wife. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. ii. (1669) 156 There have been Tsia-pots, which had cost between six and seven thousand pound sterling.] 1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4063/4 A Tea Kettle, a gilt Tea-Pot. 1784Cowper Task iv. 776 There the pitcher stands A fragment, and the spoutless tea-pot there. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset II. lxix. 261 She sat behind her old teapot, with her hands clasped. 1874[see tea-party 2].
b. Phr. tea-pot tempest, tempest in a tea-pot (U.S.): = storm in a tea-cup (see tea-cup 4). Also in similar phrases.
1854Andrews Lat. Dict. s.v. Simpulum, Excitare fluctus in simpulo,..to raise a tempest in a teapot. Cic. Leg. 3. 16, 36. 1891Cent. Dict. s.v. Tempest, A tempest in a tea-pot, a great disturbance over a small matter. 1896Peterson Mag. Jan. 104/1 What a ridiculous tea-pot tempest! 1928R. Campbell Wayzgoose i. 16 Storms in a teapot often have occurred. 1942T. DuBois Body goes round & Round xiii. 172 You have been indulging in your favourite occupation of stirring up a tempest in a teapot. 1973Times 1 Aug. 6/5 Senator Ervin said the issue of whether the subpoenas were continuing was ‘a difference in a teapot’.
2. attrib. and Comb., as tea-pot stand.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 439/1 Tea or Coffee Pot Stands. 1968Canad. Antiques Collector June 12/2 A tea service at this period..normally consisted of twelve saucers, twelve cups, twelve coffee cups, a tea pot and cover (occasionally a tea pot stand), a sucrier, [etc.].
Hence tea-pot v., to present with a tea-pot (Obs. rare); ˈteapotful, as much as a tea-pot contains.
1842J. Paget Let. 25 July in Mem. & Lett. (1901) 117 My pupils have proposed to make a demonstration in my favour, and have asked me if they may open a subscription to ‘tea-pot’ or commit some similar dignity upon me. 1854‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green ii. v, Gentlemen who get upon their legs to return thanks for having been ‘tea-potted’. 1881V. Lush Jrnl. 26 Oct. (1975) 247, I reminded him that for some time past I had been mulcted of my stipend and that to be ‘tea-potted’ under such circumstances seemed to me to be a case parallel to that of allowing a man to starve and when he is dead to give him an expensive funeral. 1895W. Wright Palmyra & Zenobia xxii. 255 The teapotful of dirty water. |