Definition

1. Noun:

   • A small open container, typically used for drinking: A cup is a small bowl-shaped container, usually with a handle, designed to hold liquids like tea, coffee, or water.
   • A unit of measurement in cooking: A cup is a standardized unit of volume, especially in recipes, equal to 8 fluid ounces or 240 milliliters in the US.
   • A trophy in the shape of a cup: A decorative vessel, often made of metal, awarded as a prize in a competition or sporting event.
   • A cup-shaped object or part: Any hollow, rounded object resembling the shape of a drinking cup, such as the socket in a golf green or parts of plants and bras.

2. Verb:

   • To form something into a cup-like shape: To curve one's hands or another object into the shape of a cup.
   • To place one's hands in a curved position: To hold something with hands shaped like a cup.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • She drank a cup of tea every morning.
  • Add one cup of flour to the mixture.
  • The team celebrated after winning the championship cup.
  • The ball dropped neatly into the cup on the 18th green.

• Verb:

  • He cupped his hands to drink water from the stream.
  • She cupped her face in her hands, feeling tired.

Advanced Usage

• "One's cup of tea" (idiom): Something one likes or is interested in.

  • Classical music isn't really my cup of tea; I prefer jazz.

• "In one's cups" (idiom, archaic): To be drunk or intoxicated.

  • He was prone to telling stories when he was in his cups.

• "The cup that cheers but not inebriates" (literary): A phrase for tea.

  • Afternoon is the time for the cup that cheers.

Variants and Related Words

• Cupful (n): The amount that a cup can hold.

  • She added a cupful of sugar.

• Cupcake (n): A small cake baked in a cup-shaped container.

• Teacup (n): A cup from which tea is drunk.

Synonyms

• Mug: A large cup, typically cylindrical with a handle.
• Goblet: A drinking glass with a foot and stem.
• Trophy: A prize for winning a contest.
• Measure: A standard unit of quantity.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Cup" is not commonly used to form phrasal verbs. Its verbal use is typically transitive, as shown in the examples.)

Related Idioms

• "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip": A proverb meaning that something can go wrong even when success seems certain.

  • We think we've won the contract, but there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.

• "To drain the cup of bitterness": To experience great suffering or hardship.

  • In his memoirs, he wrote about draining the cup of bitterness during the war.

Noun

1. a large metal vessel with two handles that is awarded as a trophy to the winner of a competition
   • the school kept the cups is a special glass case
2. 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
3. a punch served in a pitcher instead of a punch bowl
4. cup-shaped plant organ
5. a United States liquid unit equal to 8 fluid ounces
6. 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
7. the quantity a cup will hold
   • he drank a cup of coffee
   • he borrowed a cup of sugar
8. 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

Verb

1. treat by applying evacuated cups to the patient's skin
2. put into a cup
   • cup the milk
3. form into the shape of a cup
   • She cupped her hands