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catlap. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
catlap, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
catlap in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
cat + lap
Pronunciation
Noun
catlap (uncountable)
- (slang, derogatory) A watery or thin drink (especially tea or milk); a non-alcoholic drink.
1824, Walter Scott, chapter 12, in Redgauntlet:'I will leave you to yourselves, gentlemen,' said the provost, rising; 'when you have done with your crack, you will find me at my wife's tea-table.' ¶ 'And a more accomplished old woman never drank catlap,' said Maxwell, as he shut the door […]
1864, Charles Reade, chapter XIV, in Very Hard Cash, page 75:" […] You mustn't gobble, nor drink your beer too fast." ¶ "You are wrong, doctor; I never drink no beer: it costs." ¶ "Your catlap, then. […] "
1907, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, act II:I suppose you think I come here to beg from you, like this damaged lot here. Not me. I don't want your bread and scrape and catlap.
1934, George Orwell, chapter 4, in Burmese Days:All European food in Burma is more or less disgusting—the bread is spongy stuff leavened with palm-toddy and tasting like a penny bun gone wrong, the butter comes out of a tin, and so does the milk, unless it is the grey watery catlap of the dudh-wallah.
2015, Markman Ellis, Richard Coulton, Matthew Mauger, Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World, London: Reaktion Books:Identifying tea as 'catlap' had a prevailing satirical currency in the mid-1780s.
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