First recorded in 1835–45
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like many people, my garage and closets are littered with the detritus of modern life—from stacks of paperbacks and fancy china to a fussy tea maker, still swaddled in its box.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
He often encourages Mr. Wong, the tea maker, to practice his English more.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2022
The tea maker delayed its quarterly report because of accounting issues and said it doesn’t expect to reach its financial projections.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 16, 2016
In addition, Legendary inked deals with more than two dozen major marketing partners including Jeep, Intel, Lenovo, an insurance company and an herbal tea maker, resulting in a juggernaut of promotional muscle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2016
The tea is finely powdered dust; the tea maker is supposed to measure exactly the capacity of the drinker and to take enough of this finely powdered tea to make three and one-half mouthfuls exactly.
From An Ohio Woman in the Philippines Giving personal experiences and descriptions including incidents of Honolulu, ports in Japan and China by Conger, Emily Bronson
After leaving school and completing his national service, he got a casual job at the studio in 1947, starting as a tea-maker and rising through the ranks from clapper-boy to focus-puller to camera operator.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 24, 2018
But should the bedroom tea-maker, the carpet sweeper and the hostess trolley be consigned to the dustbin of history?
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2018
“You weren’t just a tea-maker, you know,” recalled Louise Irving of Birmingham.
From Slate ● Apr. 14, 2017
He'd not looked at me before, not to see me; I was just the tea-maker.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 19, 2014
On Sunday morning the tea-maker starts with a clean pot and a clean record.
From The Little Tea Book by Hood, George Washington
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
