pink tea

plural pink teas

1. UScountablehistoricaluncountableA fashionable formal tea party or other social gathering; specifically, one organized and attended chiefly by women to discuss matters of suffrage, raise funds for charity, etc.

   Feb. 4, they served a pink tea, from which they realized $19.70.

   1886 March, L. D. Carhart, “Home Department. [Des Moines Branch.]”, in Mrs. W[illia]m F[airfield] Warren [i.e., Harriet Merrick Warren], editor, The Heathen Woman’s Friend, volume XVII, number 9, Boston, Mass.: Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, →OCLC, page 227, column 1

   4 more examples

   Why, Maud, it’s too delightful to be real, and I am so glad I live in Cloverfield, for it’s getting to be altogether a charming place, with its ‘Pink Teas’ and ‘Corn Festivals,’ etc. But now for a very important question, What are you going to wear?

   1887 April, L. S. L., “Miss Primington’s ‘Violet Luncheon’”, in Arthur’s Home Magazine, volume LV, Philadelphia, Pa.: T[imothy] S[hay] Arthur & Son, →OCLC, page 411, column 1

   "Why—why—we bring flowers for the pulpit every Sunday, and we have lovely literaries and socials; and we gave a pink tea for missions last spring, and had such a nice time, besides making $25 for the cause," Annie answered, glibly. […] "Oh, Annie, Annie, what weak babes in Christ you are! Don't you know that this is only the mint, anise, and cummin of service? Pink teas and literaries the work of Jesus Christ!"

   1897 January 2, K. G. Walker, “Mint, Anise, and Cummin”, in Joseph F. Henry, editor, The Epworth Herald, volume VII, number 32, Chicago, Ill.: Curts & Jennings; New York, N.Y.: Eaton & Mains, →OCLC, page 526, column 1

   “I went to a ‘Pink Tea’ the other day,” said Littleton, “and hereafter ‘brown beer’ will be good enough for me.[…]” […] I clean forgot the point, and stood there before all those stunning girls grinning like—like an idiot at a ‘pink tea.’

   1897 August, “Puck” [pseudonym], “His First Pink Tea: Experience of a Non-society Man”, in Current Literature: A Magazine of Record and Review, volume XXII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Current Literature Publishing Co. […], →OCLC, page 157

   It is said that the jargon of these women [tea leaf pluckers], when sorting tea, is just about as intelligible and interesting as the conversation at a sewing bee, a fashionable pink tea or a German kaffeeklatsch.

   1898 August 2, Julius O. Schlotterbeck, “Second Session. [Tea Culture.]”, in Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Michigan State Pharmaceutical Association, Held at Port Huron, August 2, 3, 4, 1898, […], Detroit, Mich.: Michigan State Board of Pharmacy and Pharmacy Law, →OCLC, page 46

2. USbroadlycountableuncountableAny exclusive social gathering.

   They might lose their reverence for our pretentious Senate when they see how Senators spend their mornings reading novels and their afternoons attending pink teas, instead of studying questions of public welfare.

   1896 April, Hazen Stuart Pingree, quotee, “Two Interesting Suggestions from Mayor Pingree”, in William O. Krohn, Alfred Bayliss, editors, The Child-Study Monthly, volume I, number 10, Chicago, Ill.: The Werner Company, →OCLC, page 405

   1 more example

   At the expiration of the solemn ceremonies connected therewith Private Flanagan of the Irish tent arose, and, after congratulating the learned doctors of the Keeley Club on the success of the meeting, invited all present to attend a pink tea that would be held in his tent that evening at eight p.m.

   1895, “The Vigilantes at the Capitol Grounds”, in The “City Guard”: A History of Company “B”, First Regiment Infantry, N.G.C. [National Guard of California]: During the Sacramento Campaign, July 3 to 26, 1894 […], San Francisco, Calif.: Filmer-Rollins Electrotype Co. […], →OCLC, pages 79–80

3. USalsoattributivecountablefigurativelyuncountableSomething (as an event or policy) excessively polite and refined; specifically, one regarded as ineffective and weak.

   The Court permitted one picket at each point of entry and exit from the plant, an arrangement promptly dismissed by the unions as "pink tea" picketing.

   1991, Karen Orren, “The Old Order and Collective Action”, in Belated Feudalism: Labor, the Law, and Liberal Development in the United States, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1999, →ISBN, footnote 39, page 134

   2 more examples

   Q. Now, Mr. Mitchell, your testimony indicates that you know just what kind of language is used around a garage? / A. Yes, sir. / Q. It is not always a little pink tea affair? / A. No; sometimes I "cuss" a lot myself. / Q. And when the men, and even the bosses talk, it isn't the kind of language you hear at a pink tea, particularly? / A. Yes.

   1935 October 22, Stephen Mitchell (witness), “Transcript of Hearing. [Testimony of Stephen Mitchell.]”, in National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner vs. Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Inc. and Greyhound Management Company: On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: Supreme Court of the United States: October Term, 1937: Transcript of Record (No. 413), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 1937, page 218

   In the interest of self-preservation invoke spirit of Paul Revere to awaken Americans in these mournful times against soft-headed thinking and pink-tea diplomacy. Let us look to our own ramparts and man them like Americans.

   1950 July 26, George W[ilson] Malone, quoting Robert H. Raring, “Statement of the Honorable George W. Malone, United States Senator from the State of Nevada”, in Import Tax on Copper: Proceedings in Executive Session before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Eighty-first Congress, Second Session on H.J. Res. 502: A Joint Resolution to Suspend Certain Import Taxes on Copper […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 27 July 1950, →OCLC, page 17

   Synonyms: tea party

4. IndiaPakistanuncountableA hot drink from the Indian subcontinent with a pink colour, made with gunpowder tea, baking soda, and milk.

   Synonyms: Kashmiri tea, noon chai