cup

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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. 2
   noun

   the hole or metal container in the hole on a golf green

   They swore as the ball rimmed the cup and rolled away.

3. 3
   noun

   the quantity a cup will hold

   They drank a cup of coffee.

4. 4
   noun

   any cup-shaped concavity

   bees filled the waxen cups with honey

5. 5
   verb

   to put into a cup

   cup the milk

6. 6
   verb

   to form into the shape of a cup

   They cupped their hands.

7. 7
   noun

   A concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a handle.

   Pour the tea into the cup.

8. 8
   noun

   The contents of said vessel.

   I drank two cups of water but still felt thirsty.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English cuppe, coppe, from the merger of Old English cuppe (“cup”) and Old English copp (“cup, vessel”). Old English cuppe is a borrowing from Late Latin cuppa, itself of obscure origin, but probably from earlier Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“a hollow”). Old English copp, however, is from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, bowl, vessel, knoll, summit, crown of the head”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch”) (whence also obsolete English cop (“top, summit, crown of the head”), German Kopf…