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# teatime

«teatime» in Mova's school dictionary: **The time in the late afternoon or early evening when…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (teatime — uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ) The time in the late afternoon or early evening when people eat their evening meal, often called «tea». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#m1)

2) (UK) The time in the afternoon when people have a cup of tea and maybe cake or biscuits. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In British, Irish, Australian and NZ homes, «tea» can mean the evening meal, so «teatime» is about dinner time (often around 5 or 6 pm). In stories it shows a cosy family moment. In maths it appears in time problems. Phrases: «at teatime», «by teatime», «teatime treat».

### examples

- Come home by teatime! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x1)
- We had fish fingers at teatime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x2)
- Grandma always has cake at teatime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x3)
- Don't eat biscuits now — it's nearly teatime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x4)
- Teatime is at six o'clock in our house. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x5)
- If teatime is at 5:30 pm and it is 4:45 pm now, there are 45 minutes to wait. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x6)
- The cat always comes in at teatime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x7)
- But at teatime another thing happened. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/#x8)

### note

One word, sometimes «tea time». Trap: in the UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ «tea» may mean a whole meal, not just the drink; Americans usually say «dinner» or «supper». The exact hour differs between families.

### In the corpora

- [The knock came at teatime.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/384-when-the-police-come/0/)
- [Nana is 68 and gets tired by teatime.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/523-kinship-care-living-with-gran-or-an-aunt/2/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «teatime» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/teatime/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.