cup
/kʌp/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
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.
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
- 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
- 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
- a punch served in a pitcher instead of a punch bowl
- cup-shaped plant organ
- a United States liquid unit equal to 8 fluid ounces
- 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
- the quantity a cup will hold
- he drank a cup of coffee
- he borrowed a cup of sugar
- 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
- treat by applying evacuated cups to the patient's skin
- put into a cup
- cup the milk
- form into the shape of a cup
- She cupped her hands