English

tea bags

Alternative forms

• teabag

Noun

tea bag ‎(plural tea bags)

1. A small porous bag, holding tea leaves or the herbal equivalent; used to brew a single cup of tea.

Verb

tea bag ‎(third-person singular simple present tea bags, present participle tea bagging, simple past and past participle tea bagged)

1. (intransitive, slang) To protest against those favoring increasing economic power of the US federal government (as part of the Tea Party).
   • 2010, Whoopi Goldberg, Is It Just Me?: Or is it Nuts Out There?, page 14:

     Tea Party people are taking their tea bagging to the streets... People are scared. It's kooky.

   • 2010, John O'Hara, A New American Tea Party, page xx:

     And they don't want to tea bag alone, if that's even possible. They want you to start tea bagging, too.

   • 2011, Scott Hennen and Jim Denney, Grass Roots: A Commonsense Action Agenda for America, page 39:

     Garofalo, who had never been to a tea party, proceeded to explain with absolute authority what is inside the soul of the “tea bagging rednecks” (her words) at these rallies.

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