stoup

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small basin for holy water, especially one fixed near the entrance of a church

   Visitors dipped their fingers into the stone stoup before entering the chapel.

2. 2
   noun

   archaic: a drinking vessel, mug, bucket, or the amount that such a vessel holds

   The traveler asked the innkeeper for a stoup of ale.

From Old Norse staup, 'cup or drinking vessel,' from a Germanic word for a container. English first used stoup for buckets and drinking vessels, then applied it to the small basin that holds holy water at a church entrance.

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