English

Noun

catlap ‎(uncountable)

1. (slang, pejorative) A watery or thin drink (especially tea or milk); a non-alcoholic drink.
   • 1824, Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, Chapter XII,

     '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 […]

   • 1864, Charles Reade, Very Hard Cash, Chapter XIV, p. 75

     " […] You mustn't gobble, nor drink your beer too fast." ¶ "You are wrong, doctor; I never drink no beer: it costs." ¶ "Your catlap, then. […] "

   • 1907, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, Act II,

     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.

   • 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days, Chapter 4,

     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.

   • 2015, Markman Ellis, Richard Coulton and Matthew Mauger, Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World, London: Reaktion Books,

     Identifying tea as 'catlap' had a prevailing satirical currency in the mid-1780s.