teapot

American

[tee-pot] / ˈtiˌpɒt /

noun

a container with a lid, spout, and handle, in which tea is made and from which it is poured.

teapot British

/ ˈtiːˌpɒt /

noun

a container with a lid, spout, and handle, in which tea is made and from which it is served

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

teapot Idioms

see tempest in a teapot.

Etymology

Origin of teapot

First recorded in 1610–20; tea + pot ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But teapot refineries, clustered in China’s Shandong, a province sitting on the lower reaches of the Yellow River, are likely to drive a hard bargain.

From The Wall Street Journal

A number of these teapots are set up to run Venezuela’s heavy crude, for which Urals isn’t a direct substitute, said Smith.

From The Wall Street Journal

There were richly carved boxes which opened only under a full moon, and teapots that never grew cold, made from fire clay forged in the eastern islands.

From Literature

Soon we’re at the pink building, the one with the teapot sign I noticed when I was out walking with Mom the other day.

From Literature

Iran sells its crude mainly to small Chinese refiners known as teapots, which don’t operate internationally but need cheap crude to compete domestically.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023