Dictionary

tea-gown en · NOUN

Etymology

From tea + gown.

Meanings

1. A loose-fitting semiformal gown, made of light fabrics, worn in the late 19th and early 20th century for entertaining, especially for afternoon tea.
   • There is probably no form of gown more replete with interest to the artistic designer, nor one that lends itself to greater individuality of expression, than the tea-gown. 1923, Country Life, volume 54, page 164:
   • '[H]er luggage contained only a chiffon negligée so elaborate as to be more a tea gown than a dressing-gown.' 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 9, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 269:
   • Eve crushed in a corner, a sorrowful, dainty shape in the silk and lace of her pretty tea-gown, with the white drawn face of a scared child […] 1893, Arthur Moore, A Comedy of Masks, page 309:
   • Across the white silken draperies of her tea-gown her two little hands are loosely locked together amongst the laces that adorn it, and from beneath its lowermost frill I can just see the point of a tiny satin slipper. 1868, Edwin Waugh, Dules-gate; or, a Frisk through Lancashire Clough, page 4:

Forms

Deriveds

tea-gowned

Synonyms

tea dress