pink tea

pink tea

English

Noun

pink tea (countable and uncountable, plural pink teas)

1. (uncountable) A drink from the Indian subcontinent, made with gunpowder tea, milk, and baking soda.
2. (countable, historical) A women's gathering to discuss matters of suffrage.
3. (countable, by extension) Any semiformal social gathering attended mainly or entirely by women.
4. (attributive, derogatory) A weak and ineffective event or policy.
   • 1950, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance, Import Tax on Copper (page 17)

     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.

   • 1991, Karen Orren, Belated Feudalism

     (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.)