cup Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a small open container usually used for drinking; usually has a handle
    • he put the cup back in the saucer
    • the handle of the cup was missing
  2. noun the quantity a cup will hold
    cupful.
    • he drank a cup of coffee
    • he borrowed a cup of sugar
  3. noun any cup-shaped concavity
    • bees filled the waxen cups with honey
    • he wore a jock strap with a metal cup
    • the cup of her bra
  4. noun a United States liquid unit equal to 8 fluid ounces
  5. noun cup-shaped plant organ
  6. noun a punch served in a pitcher instead of a punch bowl
  7. noun the hole (or metal container in the hole) on a golf green
    • he swore as the ball rimmed the cup and rolled away
    • put the flag back in the cup
  8. noun a large metal vessel with two handles that is awarded as a trophy to the winner of a competition
    loving cup.
    • the school kept the cups is a special glass case
  9. verb form into the shape of a cup
    • She cupped her hands
  10. verb put into a cup
    • cup the milk
  11. verb treat by applying evacuated cups to the patient's skin
    transfuse.

WordNet

Cup noun
Etymology
AS. cuppe, LL. cuppa cup; cf. L. cupa tub, cask; cf. also Gr. hut, Skr. kpa pit, hollow, OSlav. kupa cup. Cf. Coop, Cupola, Cowl a water vessel, and Cob, Coif, Cop.
Definitions
  1. A small vessel, used commonly to drink from; as, a tin cup, a silver cup, a wine cup; especially, in modern times, the pottery or porcelain vessel, commonly with a handle, used with a saucer in drinking tea, coffee, and the like.
  2. The contents of such a vessel; a cupful.
    Give me a cup of sack, boy. Shak.
  3. pl. Repeated potations; social or exessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks; revelry.
    Thence from cups to civil broils. Milton.
  4. That which is to be received or indured; that which is allotted to one; a portion.
    O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Matt. xxvi. 39.
  5. Anything shaped like a cup; as, the cup of an acorn, or of a flower.
    The cowslip's golden cup no more I see. Shenstone.
  6. (Med.) A cupping glass or other vessel or instrument used to produce the vacuum in cupping.
Cup transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Cupped present participle & verbal noun Cupping
Definitions
  1. To supply with cups of wine. R.
    Cup us, till the world go round. Shak.
  2. (Surg.) To apply a cupping apparatus to; to subject to the operation of cupping. See Cupping.
  3. (Mech.) To make concave or in the form of a cup; as, to cup the end of a screw.

Webster 1913