Ptisan. A diluent drink which makes a great figure in the dietetic precepts of the ancients.
1928, (w), (w):
“Neither,” said Poirot, “I shall go to bed and take a tisane. The expected has happened ….”
1932, (w), Talleyrand, Folio Society 2010, p. 5:
The sick people would take away also some herbs for their ptisan, some wine and other comforts ….
1993, (w), My Idea of Fun:
As soon as he had opened the door he worked his way back to his high-backed Queen Anne armchair, where he picked up his bone-china cup and took a sip of a rarefied tisane.