teatime

«teatime» in Mova's school dictionary: The time in the late afternoon or early evening when… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (teatime — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) (UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ) The time in the late afternoon or early evening when people eat their evening meal, often called «tea». tree →

2) (UK) The time in the afternoon when people have a cup of tea and maybe cake or biscuits. tree →

sense in the lessons

In British, Irish, Australian and NZ homes, «tea» can mean the evening meal, so «teatime» is about dinner time (often around 5 or 6 pm). In stories it shows a cosy family moment. In maths it appears in time problems. Phrases: «at teatime», «by teatime», «teatime treat».

examples

• Come home by teatime! tree →
• We had fish fingers at teatime. tree →
• Grandma always has cake at teatime. tree →
• Don't eat biscuits now — it's nearly teatime. tree →
• Teatime is at six o'clock in our house. tree →
• If teatime is at 5:30 pm and it is 4:45 pm now, there are 45 minutes to wait. tree →
• The cat always comes in at teatime. tree →
• But at teatime another thing happened. tree →

note

One word, sometimes «tea time». Trap: in the UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ «tea» may mean a whole meal, not just the drink; Americans usually say «dinner» or «supper». The exact hour differs between families.

In the corpora

• The knock came at teatime.
• Nana is 68 and gets tired by teatime.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «teatime» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.