Dictionary

catlap en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkæt.læp/

Etymology

From cat + lap.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, slang, uncountable) A watery or thin drink (especially tea or milk); a non-alcoholic drink.
   • 'I will leave you to yourselves, gentlemen,' said the provost, rising; 'when you have done with your crack, you will find me at my wife's tea-table.' ¶ 'And a more accomplished old woman never drank catlap,' said Maxwell, as he shut the door […] 1824, Walter Scott, chapter 12, in Redgauntlet:
   • All European food in Burma is more or less disgusting—the bread is spongy stuff leavened with palm-toddy and tasting like a penny bun gone wrong, the butter comes out of a tin, and so does the milk, unless it is the grey watery catlap of the dudh-wallah. 1934, George Orwell, chapter 4, in Burmese Days:
   • "[…] You mustn't gobble, nor drink your beer too fast." ¶ "You are wrong, doctor; I never drink no beer: it costs." ¶ "Your catlap, then. […]" 1864, Charles Reade, chapter XIV, in Very Hard Cash, page 75:
   • I suppose you think I come here to beg from you, like this damaged lot here. Not me. I don't want your bread and scrape and catlap. 1907, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, act II:
   • Identifying tea as 'catlap' had a prevailing satirical currency in the mid-1780s. 2015, Markman Ellis, Richard Coulton, Matthew Mauger, Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World, London: Reaktion Books:

Forms