tea leaf
Britishnoun
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the dried leaf of the tea shrub, used to make tea
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(usually plural) shredded parts of these leaves, esp after infusion
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slang a thief
Etymology
Origin of tea leaf
sense 3 rhyming slang
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“If I were Paramount ... I would view this as a tea leaf that there might be a little bit of an opening here, to the extent we were to be aggressive,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
We want to find new insights, so — like a tea leaf reader or an astrologer — we read signs and omens into data that has no predictive power.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2022
He hasn’t talked publicly since the summer trade demand, and tea leaf readers are making a mint trying to decipher clues into how the impasse will be resolved.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 8, 2021
The tea leaf reading on this front is, well, mixed.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2021
"What young lady did you say it was?" she asked presently, her eyes on a tea leaf swirling round and round in her cup.
From Molly Brown's Senior Days by Charles L. (Charles Lewis) Wrenn
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.
