tea cloth
- noun
- UK
:
mantel de té
- She laid a clean tea cloth on the table before serving the cakes.
Examples
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The embroidered tea cloth gave the tea party a charming touch.
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After washing the dishes, she folded the tea cloth and put it away in the drawer.
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She placed a beautiful tea cloth on the table.
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The tea cloth was embroidered with flowers.
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She laid a clean tea cloth on the table before serving the cakes.
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The embroidered tea cloth gave the tea party a charming touch.
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After washing the dishes, she folded the tea cloth and put it away in the drawer.
Synonyms
215
1.0
A piece of material made by joining threads together and used for making clothes or for cleaning
47
1.0
A cloth that covers a table during a meal
2
2.2
Cloth items like napkins and tablecloths used to cover a dining table
2
6.8
A strong cloth covered with oil that protects tables from water and stains
How Decorative
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a cloth associated with 'tea' (i.e., used when serving tea or covering a table) combined with 'cloth' (a textile) yields the intended referent. This noun+noun association expressing purpose or topical relation is common cross-linguistically and should be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Tea cloth comes from the simple image of a small cloth used at tea time. People would lay a tea cloth over the table to protect it and make the cups and cakes look nice, so it means 'a small cloth used to cover a table when serving tea'.