Dictionary

builder's tea en · NOUN

Etymology

From builder + -'s + tea, from its supposedly being the preferred type of tea of British builders and construction workers.

Meanings

1. (UK, uncountable) Black tea, brewed strong and served in a large mug with milk and often sugar.
   • Armed with a cup of Alison's strong, thick, builder's tea, Mrs Jamal started falteringly into the story she had told countless times to sceptical police officers and lawyers. 2010, M. R. Hall, The Disappeared, →ISBN:
   • It has got the lot, this, underneath its hinged awning: eggs any way, sausage, old-fashioned burgers and builders' tea. 2001 March 30, Stephen Moss, “Meals on wheels”, in The Guardian:
   • I ate a kebab in a Cypriot cafe with the freezing rain spatting in the doorway and I was poured a soup-like cup of builder's tea. 2005, Barbara Bailey, An eccentric marriage: Living with Jim, →ISBN, page 185:
   • The meal should be taken with milky "builder's tea" steeped strong in the mug. 2008, William Morrow, Beef: The untold story of how milk, meat and muscle shaped the world, →ISBN, page 177:
2. (UK, countable) A serving thereof.

Forms

Coordinates

husband's tea

Hypernyms

beverage · drink · tea

Relateds

builder's mug · builder's breakfast · builders'[Appendix:Glossary · builder's · builders' tea

Synonyms

builder's brew