loving cup


noun
  1. a large cup, as of silver, usually with two or more handles, given as a prize, award, token of esteem or affection, etc.

  2. a wine cup, usually of large size with several handles, passed from one person to another, as at a farewell gathering.

Origin of loving cup

1
First recorded in 1800–10

Words Nearby loving cup

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use loving cup in a sentence

  • The bride-cup was the bowl or loving-cup in which the bridegroom pledged the bride, and she him.

  • Even at the present day, the loving-cup and decanters are handed to the right around the social board.

  • Better than this to have a foolish spendthrift blaze and the loving cup going round.

    Robert Louis Stevenson | Walter Raleigh
  • Silver loving cup for greatest originality of conception also goes to Miss Merriam and Mr. Lee, read the herald.

    Winona of the Camp Fire | Margaret Widdemer
  • And forthwith the loving-cup—several of them, indeed, on each side of the tables—came slowly down with all the antique ceremony.

    Our Old Home, Vol. 2 | Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for loving cup

loving cup

noun
  1. a large vessel, usually two-handled, out of which people drink in turn at a banquet

  2. a similar cup awarded to the winner of a competition

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012