tea money
Americannoun
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 necessary they would have collected the tea money.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2011
The gist was that it's all a bit of a shame, a bit unfortunate, about the level of someone denying allegations that they had forgotten to pay their tea money.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 28, 2010
No longer is "tea money" necessary to get in to see a government official.
From Time Magazine Archive
Office "peons" no longer demand "tea money" for leading callers to officials.
From Time Magazine Archive
It must have been on account of my being slow in the fork over of this "tea money" that they had huddled me into such a narrow, dark room.
From Botchan (Master Darling) by Morri, Yasotaro
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.
