Meaning & use
cambric tea
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Meanings
noununcountableold-fashioned
A mild hot drink for children made from hot water, milk and sugar, sometimes with a very small amount of tea.
Grammar: Not used with an or an: she drank cambric tea.
Patterns
- a cup of cambric tea
- drink cambric tea
Grandmother gave the little girl cambric tea in a tiny china cup.
In old stories, children sip cambric tea at the grown-ups' table.
The nurse made cambric tea to soothe the boy before bed.
noununcountablefigurativeliterary
A weak or thin drink or idea that has little strength, used figuratively.
Grammar: A figurative use, often with disapproval: the speech was cambric tea.
Patterns
- be cambric tea
Compared with his early work, the new novel was cambric tea.
Critics called the reforms cambric tea.
Common combinations
- cup of cambric tea
- She sipped a cup of cambric tea.
- serve cambric tea
- They served cambric tea to the children.
- weak as cambric tea
- The argument was as weak as cambric tea.
- drink cambric tea
- Children drank cambric tea at the party.
Synonyms and how they differ
- milk tea
- Milk tea is a normal tea with plenty of milk, and it has real tea, while cambric tea has almost none.
- hot milk
- Hot milk is simply warm milk, and cambric tea adds water, sugar and tea.
- weak tea
- Weak tea is just thin tea and does not have the same children's association.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: cambric tea or cambric?
cambric tea vs cambric
Cambric alone is a fabric and has nothing to do with the drink; the tea is named for its pale, thin look.
Practice
In a story set long ago, a child is given cambric tea. What is she most likely drinking?
Choose one answer.
Cambric tea is a mild children's drink of hot water, milk and sugar. It is not strong or bitter, and it is served hot.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cambric tea”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.