Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small open container, usually with a flat bottom and a handle, used for drinking.
- noun Such a container and its contents.
- noun A unit of capacity or volume equal to 16 tablespoons or 8 fluid ounces (237 milliliters).
- noun The bowl of a drinking vessel.
- noun The chalice or the wine used in the celebration of the Eucharist.
- noun A decorative cup-shaped vessel awarded as a prize or trophy.
- noun Sports A golf hole or the metal container inside a hole.
- noun Either of the two parts of a brassiere that fit over the breasts.
- noun An athletic supporter having a protective reinforcement of rigid plastic or metal.
- noun A sweetened, flavored, usually chilled beverage, especially one made with wine.
- noun A dish served in a cup-shaped vessel.
- noun A cuplike object.
- noun Biology A cuplike structure or organ.
- noun A lot or portion to be suffered or enjoyed.
- transitive verb To shape like a cup.
- transitive verb To place one's curved hand or hands over or around.
- transitive verb To subject to the therapeutic procedure of cupping.
- idiom (cup of tea) Something that one excels in or enjoys.
- idiom (cup of tea) A matter to be reckoned or dealt with.
- idiom (in (one's) cups) Intoxicated; drunk.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To fit concavely over a contiguous leaf. See
cupping , 4. - To supply with cups, as of liquor.
- To make drunk.
- To bleed by means of cupping-glasses; perform the operation of cupping upon.
- To drink.
- To perform the operation of cupping: as, to
cup for inflammation. - In golfing, to hit or break the ground with the club when striking the ball.
- noun A small vessel used to contain liquids generally; a drinking-vessel; a chalice.
- noun Specifically That part of a drinking-cup or similar vessel which contains the liquid, as distinguished from the stem and foot when these are present.
- noun Eccles., the chalice from which the wine is dispensed in the sacrament of the Lord's supper.
- noun A cup-shaped or other vessel of precious metal, or by extension any elaborately wrought piece of plate, offered as a prize to be contended for in yacht- and horse-racing and other sports.
- noun [capitalized] The constellation Crater.
- noun Something formed like a cup: as, the cup of an acorn, of a flower, etc.
- noun Specifically— In botany: The concave fruiting body of angiocarpous lichens and discomycetous fungi: same as
discocarp and apothecium. The peridium of a cluster-cup fungus, Æcidium. In golfing, a small cavity or hole in the course, probably made by the stroke of a previous player. - noun In steam-boilers, one of a series of depressions or domes used to increase the amount of heating surface.
- noun A cupping-glass.
- noun A small vessel of determinate size for receiving the blood during venesection.
- noun The quantity contained in a cup; the contents of a cup: as, a cup of tea.
- noun Suffering to be endured; evil which falls to one's lot; portion: from the idea of a bitter or poisonous draught from a cup.
- noun A drink made of wine, generally iced, sweetened, and flavored according to many different receipts, and sometimes containing many ingredients. The different varieties are named from the chief ingredient, as claret-cup, champagnc-cup, etc.
- noun plural The drinking of intoxicating liquors; a drinking-bout; intoxication.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb rare To supply with cups of wine.
- transitive verb (Surg.) To apply a cupping apparatus to; to subject to the operation of cupping. See
Cupping . - transitive verb (Mech.) To make concave or in the form of a cup.
- noun A small vessel, used commonly to drink from; ; especially, in modern times, the pottery or porcelain vessel, commonly with a handle, used with a saucer in drinking tea, coffee, and the like.
- noun The contents of such a vessel; a cupful.
- noun Repeated potations; social or excessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks; revelry.
- noun That which is to be received or indured; that which is allotted to one; a portion.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cup.
Examples
-
In three of the meals, the kids got an appetizer of carrots — about a ¼ cup portion, about a half-cup portion, and about a ¾-cup portion.
-
In three of the meals, the kids got an appetizer of carrots—about a ¼ cup portion, about a half-cup portion, and about a ¾-cup portion.
-
"Ay: but what you don't know, maybe, is that he's been up to Rilla Farm tryin 'to persuade Mrs Bosenna to attend on the Committee-ship an' hand the cup -- his _cup_ -- to the winner."
Hocken and Hunken Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903
-
I will not demur much upon; but the _vase_ and cup (not the _skull cup_) and some little coffee things brought from the
The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals. Vol. 2 George Gordon Byron Byron 1806
-
The Holy Ghost calls it joy (_for the joy which was set before him he endured the cross_), [380] which was not a joy of his reward after his passion, but a joy that filled him even in the midst of his torments, and arose from him; when Christ calls his _calicem_ a cup, and no worse (_Can ye drink of my cup_) [381], he speaks not odiously, not with detestation of it.
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Together with Death's Duel John Donne 1601
-
Reducing the amount of honey by 25 per cent (e.g. if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, use ¾cup honey) and
unknown title 2009
-
Reducing the amount of honey by 25 per cent (e.g. if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, use ¾cup honey) and
unknown title 2009
-
Reducing the amount of honey by 25 per cent (e.g. if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, use ¾cup honey) and
unknown title 2009
-
As a tea enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoy coming across a fabulous cup, which is why I lit up when I received an “A” tea cup from a wonderful friend.
-
Your cup is always half empty instead of half full.
kewpid commented on the word cup
bus
May 6, 2008
lampbane commented on the word cup
General José Francisco Bermúdez Airport (Carupano, Venezuela).
October 24, 2008
yarb commented on the word cup
"Found my way downstairs and drank a cup" - The Beatles, A Day in the Life
November 21, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word cup
"20. in (one's) cups Intoxicated; drunk."
--American Heritage Dictionary
April 8, 2011
yarb commented on the word cup
Looking forward to being pleasantly cup in about nine hours' time.
April 8, 2011