Boston Tea-party
Preserved but no longer current.
An incident leading up to the American War of Independence. The British Parliament had passed laws which favoured the London East India Company at the expense of American traders. Three cargoes of tea which arrived at Boston Har- bour in 1773, shortly after the legislation, were thrown overboard as a protest by a party of colonists dressed as Indians. This act of defiance is known as the Boston Tea-party.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Boston Tea-party” mean?
An incident leading up to the American War of Independence. The British Parliament had passed laws which favoured the London East India Company at the expense of American traders. Three cargoes of tea which arrived at Boston Har- bour in 1773, shortly after the legislation, were thrown overboard as a protest by a party of colonists dressed as Indians. This act of defiance is known as the Boston Tea-party.
Is “Boston Tea-party” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.