catlap

alternative cat-lap

1. derogatoryslanguncountableA watery or thin drink (especially tea or milk); a non-alcoholic drink.

   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

   4 more examples

   '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

   "[…] 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

   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