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.

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

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 (¹⁄₁₆ of a US gallon; 236.5882365 mL) or 240 mL.
   2. (Canada) A Canadian unit of measure equal to 8 imperial ounces (¹⁄₂₀ imperial gallon; 227.3 mL) or 250 mL.
   3. (UK, dated) A British unit of measure equal to ¹⁄₂ 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.

• French: tasse, coupe
• German: Tasse, Becher, Kelch
• Italian: tazza, coppa
• Portuguese: xícara, chávena (short cup with a handle, such as a coffee cup); copo (applies to plastic cups; not distinct from glasses)
• Russian: ча́шка
• Spanish: taza

• French: tasse
• German: Tasse
• Portuguese: xícara, chávena
• Spanish: taza

• French: coupe
• German: Pokal
• Italian: coppa
• Portuguese: taça
• Russian: ку́бок
• Spanish: copa

• French: coupe
• German: Pokal, Cup, Preis
• Portuguese: copa
• Russian: ку́бок
• Spanish: copa

• Italian: conchiglia
• Portuguese: coquilha

• French: bonnet
• German: Körbchen
• Italian: coppa
• Portuguese: copa
• Russian: ча́шечка
• Spanish: copa

• French: cloche

• German: Becher

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

• German: (cup a hand and hold the opening upward) die Hand aufhalten; otherwise only the noun phrase hohle Hand

• German: in der hohle Hand (but only used with very small things or liquids)

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

Capitalization of cup

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

• French: Coupe
• Spanish: Copa

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

• French: Coupe / coupe
• Spanish: Copa / copa