cup

(kŭp)

a. A small open container, usually with a flat bottom and a handle, used for drinking.

b. Such a container and its contents.

2. Abbr. c. A unit of capacity or volume equal to 16 tablespoons or 8 fluid ounces (237 milliliters). See Table at measurement.

3. The bowl of a drinking vessel.

4. The chalice or the wine used in the celebration of the Eucharist.

5. A decorative cup-shaped vessel awarded as a prize or trophy.

6. Sports A golf hole or the metal container inside a hole.

7. Either of the two parts of a brassiere that fit over the breasts.

8. An athletic supporter having a protective reinforcement of rigid plastic or metal.

9. A sweetened, flavored, usually chilled beverage, especially one made with wine: claret cup.

10. A dish served in a cup-shaped vessel: fruit cup.

11.

a. A cuplike object.

b. Biology A cuplike structure or organ.

12. A lot or portion to be suffered or enjoyed.

tr.v. cupped, cup·ping, cups

1. To shape like a cup: cup one's hands.

2. To place one's curved hand or hands over or around: cupped his chin in his hands.

3. To subject to the therapeutic procedure of cupping.

Idioms:

cup of tea

1. Something that one excels in or enjoys: Opera is not my cup of tea.

2. A matter to be reckoned or dealt with: Recreational sport is relaxing. Professional sport is another cup of tea altogether.

in (one's) cups

Intoxicated; drunk.

[Middle English cuppe, from Old English, from Late Latin cuppa, drinking vessel, possibly variant of Latin cūpa, tub, cask; see cupola.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

cup of tea - an activity that you like or at which you are superior; "chemistry is not my cup of tea"; "his bag now is learning to play golf"; "marriage was scarcely his dish"

dish, bag

activity - any specific behavior; "they avoided all recreational activity"

Translations

tasse de thé

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"How convenient it would be," Lady Muriel laughingly remarked, a propos of my having insisted on saving her the trouble of carrying a cup of tea across the room to the Earl, "if cups of tea had no weight at all!

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Corney was about to solace herself with a cup of tea. As she glanced from the table to the fireplace, where the smallest of all possible kettles was singing a small song in a small voice, her inward satisfaction evidently increased,--so much so, indeed, that Mrs.

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If I bring you a cup of tea, I revive the remembrance of a horrid doubt--they said I put the arsenic in her cup of tea.

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"No, no, you're not going away before you take a cup of tea with the old man," he protested.

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"How odd it is," observed Clara, "that the liberties of America should have had anything to do with a cup of tea!"

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I might foam at the mouth, but bring me a doll to play with, give me a cup of tea with sugar in it, and maybe I should be appeased.

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Even when, in due course, I carried over to her a cup of tea, she only nodded at me silently, with the faintest ghost of a smile on her tight-set lips.

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Having drunk his second cup of tea with cream, and bread, Alexey Alexandrovitch got up, and was going towards his study.

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His sister-in-law came round to the other side of the fire with her cup of tea in her hand, holding it out at arm's-length, so that she might not spill it on her dress, and uttering little cries of alarm.

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The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST butter, you know.'

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Grimsby seated himself by me, in the chair vacated by Hargrave as they entered, and gravely stated that he would thank me for a cup of tea: and Arthur placed himself beside poor Milicent, confidentially pushing his head into her face, and drawing in closer to her as she shrank away from him.

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We shall get a good cup of tea after a bit, at all events."

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