tea-service

plural tea-services

1. archaicArchaic form of tea service.

   […] James brought in the tea-board, with its genuine China tea-service, plates with cake and bread-and-butter, and, whilst he went back to Kezia for the tea-urn, in walked Mr. Ashton, and with him the Rev. Joshua Brookes.

   1876, Mrs. G[eorge] Linnæus Banks [i.e., Isabella Banks], “Wounded”, in The Manchester Man, volume II, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], page 79

   3 more examples

   All the furniture is shaken and dusted, the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Snagsby are touched up with a wet cloth, the best tea-service is set forth, and there is excellent provision made of dainty new bread, crusty twists, cool fresh butter, thin slices of ham, tongue and German sausage, and delicate little rows of anchovies nestling in parsley; […]

   1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Moving on”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 185

   He seems to have been a man of great wealth, even for that day, as he brought with him 60,000 guineas, an immense amount of silver-plate for daily family use, including two complete tea-services, two large urns, one for coffee and the other for chocolate, tureens, mugs, tumblers, goblets, porringers, chafing-dish, ladles, forks and knives with solid silver handles; […]

   1867, Henry R[eed] Stiles, A History of the City of Brooklyn. Including the Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the Village and City of Williamsburgh., volume I, Brooklyn, N.Y.: […] [B]y subscription, page 308

   Courteix displayed motifs for embroideries and lacework which ladies will welcome with enthusiasm, while Abel Landry showed an ensemble of work at once varied and homogeneous: a sofa, chairs, a desk, a tea-service, and a bonbonnière—a whole set of what we may call “woman’s furniture,” which, by its simplicity and its fine and elegant appearance, is quite refreshing after the abracadabrant experiments wherewith we are, alas! only too familiar.

   1904, The Studio, page 164, columns 1–2