slang. or dial. [Cf. Shaks., Temp., II. i. 288. ‘They’ll take suggestion as the cat laps milk.’] Stuff fit for a cat to lap: contemptuously applied to tea or other weak drink.
1785. Capt. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Cat-Lap, tea, called also scandal broth.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiii. We have tea and coffee aboard…. You are at the age to like such catlap.
1865. Miss Braddon, Sir Jasper, xxvii. 282. The clerk only muttered, ‘Oh, d——n! nobody wants your catlap!’
