tea caddy
1
2.1
- noun
- /ti ˈkædi/
- We see the fully blossomed flower in the tea caddy, and then Hasari's fingers come into the frame.
- tea caddy or silver box
Examples
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A door flew open and a scurrying domestic wheeled in the tea caddy, the cup, the molko, and the tins of oolong and Earl Grey.
Fiction book (2000) -
We focus on the growing flower in the tea caddy in the window and then go through the window into:
Fiction book (1992) -
Lot 50, a George III mahogany tea caddy.
-
Alone in his pain, he spots his tea caddy in which he planted his seeds over a month ago.
Fiction book (1992) -
A robot servant rolled in a wagon with a tea caddy, and Yamashita and Xian drank a ceremonial cup together.
Fiction book (2000) -
Shambu rubbing his father's aching legs as Hasari and Manooj plant the seeds in Hasari's little tea caddy full of earth from home.
Fiction book (1992) -
The old wooden tea caddy on the shelf was filled with fragrant Earl Grey leaves.
-
She stored her favorite green tea in a decorative tea caddy with a tight-fitting lid.
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During the tea party, each guest received a small tea caddy filled with assorted tea bags.
Synonyms
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'tea' (the product) combined with 'caddy' (a small lidded container) yields 'a container for tea', so the overall sense is derivable from the parts. This noun+noun compounding is a common, cross-linguistic pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Tea caddy: The name tea caddy comes from the small boxes used to keep tea. One popular story says the word caddy comes from a Malay word for a weight of tea, because sellers packed that amount into little boxes, so tea caddy came to mean 'a small container for tea'.