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
Two of multiple hits included green tea leaf salad, lightly crunchy with cabbage, yellow peas and roasted garlic, and a standout curry marrying tender chunks of pork and pickled mango.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2023
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
The yellow tea leaf circling as it falls; The futile wheeling of the storm-tossed swan; The note of the marble lute at evening by the pool; The immobile cypress seen against the sun.
From The Mirror of Kong Ho by Ernest Bramah
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
