cup
see also: CUP, Cup
Etymology

From Middle English cuppe, coppe, from the merger of Old English cuppe and Old English copp.

The Middle English word was further reinforced by Anglo-Norman cupe and Old French cope, coupe, from Latin cuppa.

Pronunciation
  • enPR: kŭp, IPA: /kʌp/
  • (Northern England) IPA: /kʊp/
Noun

cup (plural cups)

  1. A concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a handle.
    Coordinate terms: mug, pannikin
    Pour the tea into the cup.
  2. The contents of said vessel.
    Synonyms: cupful
    I drank two cups of water but still felt thirsty.
  3. A customary unit of measure
    1. (US) A US unit of liquid measure equal to 8 fluid ounces (116 of a US gallon; 236.5882365 mL) or 240 mL.
    2. (Canada) A Canadian unit of measure equal to 8 imperial ounces (120 imperial gallon; 227.3 mL) or 250 mL.
    3. (UK, dated) A British unit of measure equal to 12 imperial pint (10 imperial ounces; 284 mL) or 300 mL.
    4. (AU, NZ) A metric unit of measure equal to 250 mL.
  4. A trophy in the shape of an oversized cup.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
    The World Cup is awarded to the winner of a quadrennial football tournament.
  5. A contest for which a cup is awarded.
    The World Cup is the world's most widely watched sporting event.
  6. (association football) The main knockout tournament in a country, organised alongside the league.
  7. (golf) A cup-shaped object placed in the target hole.
    The ball just misses the cup.
  8. (in combination) Any of various sweetened alcoholic drinks.
    cider cup
    gin cup
    claret cup
  9. (US, Canada) A rigid concave protective covering for the male genitalia.
    Synonyms: box
    Players of contact sports are advised to wear a cup.
  10. One of the two parts of a brassiere which each cover a breast.
    The cups are made of a particularly uncomfortable material.
    1. Prefixed with a letter, used as a measurement of bra or breast size.
  11. (mathematics) The symbol \cup denoting union and similar operations.
    Coordinate term: cap
  12. (tarot) A suit of the minor arcana in tarot, or one of the cards from the suit.
  13. (ultimate frisbee) A defensive style characterized by a three player near defense cupping the thrower; or those three players.
  14. A flexible concave membrane used to temporarily attach a handle or hook to a flat surface by means of suction.
    Synonyms: suction cup
  15. Anything shaped like a cup.
    the cup of an acorn
    • 1745, William Shenstone, Elegy VIII:
      The cowslip's golden cup no more I see.
    • 2003, Garrett Hack, The Handplane Book, page 143:
      Even if the parts are thicknessed by machine, check for and plane out any cup with a bench plane.
  16. (medicine, historical) A cupping glass or other vessel or instrument used to produce the vacuum in cupping.
  17. (figurative) That which is to be received or indured; that which is allotted to one; a portion of blessings and afflictions.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Matthew 26:39 ↗:
      O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

cup (cups, present participle cupping; simple past and past participle cupped)

  1. (transitive) To form into the shape of a cup, particularly of the hands.
    Cup your hands and I'll pour some rice into them.
  2. (transitive) To hold something in cupped hands.
    He cupped the ball carefully in his hands.
  3. (transitive) To pour (a liquid, drink, etc.) into a cup.
    We are cupping some new brands of coffee today.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To supply with cups of wine.
    • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene vii]:
      Cup us, till the world go round.
  5. (transitive, surgery, archaic) To apply a cup or cupping apparatus to; to subject to the operation of cupping.
  6. (transitive, engineering) To make concave or in the form of a cup.
    to cup the end of a screw
Translations
  • German: (cup a hand and hold the opening upward) die Hand aufhalten; otherwise only the noun phrase hohle Hand
Translations
  • German: in der hohle Hand (but only used with very small things or liquids)

CUP
Proper noun
  1. Initialism of Cambridge University Press
  2. Initialism of Committee of Union and Progress

Cup
Etymology

Capitalization of cup

Proper noun
  1. (informal, sports) A particular trophy that is a cup; sometimes with the definite article "the".
Translations Noun

cup (plural cups)

  1. (informal, sports) A win of a championship that is awarded a cup.
  2. (informal, sports) A win of an event comprising part of the championship, which is awarded a cup
Translations


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