teacup and saucer
teacup and saucer noun: a type of 19th-century English comedy pioneered by T. W. Robertson, characterised by natural dialogue and down-to-earth, domestic settings.
Noun
teacup and saucer (uncountable)
- A type of 19th-century English comedy pioneered by T. W. Robertson, characterised by natural dialogue and down-to-earth, domestic settings.
- If a Drama is bold and romantic, it is unnatural, it does not resemble Life. If, on the other hand, it resembles Life very much, it is commonplace, it is of the “teacup and saucer” order, it has no morale, no bearing on questions of moral sewage and drainage.1889 December, Robert Buchanan, “The Modern Drama and Its Critics”, in The Contemporary Review, volume 56, page 924
- In his youth [Clement Scott] was among the revolutionaries who rallied around the teacup-and-saucer comedy; in his age he was a likable and vigorous reactionary.1946, Allardyce Nicoll, A History of Late Nineteenth Century Drama, 1850–1900, volume 1, page 23
Forms of teacup and saucer
| alternative form | tea-cup and saucer |
|---|---|
| alternative form | cup and saucer |
Questions about teacup and saucer
- What does teacup and saucer mean?
- Teacup and saucer means a type of 19th-century English comedy pioneered by T. W. Robertson, characterised by natural dialogue and down-to-earth, domestic settings.
- What part of speech is teacup and saucer?
- Teacup and saucer is a noun.
Words near teacup and saucer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: teacup and saucer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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