Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sew-?
Proto-Indo-European *sewH-
Proto-Indo-European *peh₃-
Proto-Indo-European *su(H)ph₃néh₂-der.?
Proto-Germanic *suppōną
Proto-Germanic *sūpaną
Proto-West Germanic *sūpan
Old English sūpan
Middle English soupen
English sup
The verb is from Middle English soupen, from Old English sūpan (“to sip, drink, taste”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (compare Dutch zuipen (“to drink, tipple, booze”), German saufen (“to drink, booze”), Swedish supa (“to drink, swallow”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sub-, compare Sanskrit सूप (sū́pa, “soup, broth”), from *sewe (“to take liquid”). More at suck.
The noun is from the verb. There is no evidence of continuity with Old English supa. Compare Middle English soupe, from Old English sūpe, which has the same meaning as Middle English sope (“a mouthful or small amount of drink”), from Old English sopa, whence sop.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) A sip; a small amount, of food or drink, water or rain.
The hands touch B upon the head, give him sup from a cup and wipe his brow with a cloth, and finally embrace him as he slumps back down upon his desk. 2010, Graley Herren, “Beckett on Television”, in S[tanley] E. Gontarski, editor, A Companion to Samuel Beckett, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, part IV (Acts of Performance), page 396:
Is it stoppin' there you'd be till every sup of the say's dhrained out on us to beyant the King Pharaoh's Islands? 1896, Jane Barlow, Mrs. Martin's Company, page 95:
... an' we'll bathe them eyes of yours with a sup of rain water, the way when you go indoors ne'er a one will see there's been a ha'porth the matter. 1906, Emily Lawless, The Book of Gilly: Four Months Out of a Life, page 60:
Not a sup will I swallow, nor a bit will I bite, till Burd Ellen is set free. 1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Childe Rowland”, in English Fairy Tales, page 123:
A long, long sup of beer flowed gratefully down his gullet. 1936, George Orwell, chapter 8, in Keep the Aspidistra Flying:
'Wouldn't the fields be glad of a sup of rain.' 'Won't we have the rain for long enough.' 2022, Claire Keegan, Foster:
“Then, who,” the sick man meekly said, / “Shall heal the sick and hide the dead?— / “Snatch the despairer’s poisoned cup; / Clothe shame, and give the outcast sup?— / “Lighten, if only by a hair, / The load of human pain and care?” 1898, Wilfred Woollam, “Fragments from Two Hearts”, in Child Illa and Other Poems, Sheffield: J. Arthur Bain; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., page 163:
We’re sisters in a sort and I’ll take Louie home with me and give her sup and shelter. a. 1936, J[oseph] S[mith] Fletcher, “Assault of Hannah’s Castle”, in The Mill House Murder: Being the Last of the Adventures of Ronald Camberwell, Alfred A[braham] Knopf, Inc., published 1937, page 234:
Forms
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soup
alternative
lexicographic
sups
Number=Plur
lexicographic
sup en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
/sup/ (abbreviation) of supremum and of words beginning with super-
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sew-?
Proto-Indo-European *sewH-
Proto-Indo-European *peh₃-
Proto-Indo-European *su(H)ph₃néh₂-der.?
Proto-Germanic *suppōną
Proto-Germanic *sūpaną
Proto-West Germanic *sūpan
Old English sūpan
Middle English soupen
English sup
The verb is from Middle English soupen, from Old English sūpan (“to sip, drink, taste”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (compare Dutch zuipen (“to drink, tipple, booze”), German saufen (“to drink, booze”), Swedish supa (“to drink, swallow”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sub-, compare Sanskrit सूप (sū́pa, “soup, broth”), from *sewe (“to take liquid”). More at suck.
The noun is from the verb. There is no evidence of continuity with Old English supa. Compare Middle English soupe, from Old English sūpe, which has the same meaning as Middle English sope (“a mouthful or small amount of drink”), from Old English sopa, whence sop.
Meanings
To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon.
And as she supped her tea she smiled discreetly at him over the brim. 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 80:
On market days the farmers would come in before going home - Tysons and Lindsays and Birketts and Longmires and Boows and Dawsons - and their dogs would lie in heaps on the flags while they themselves supped Gerald's ale. 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 60:
We stood upon the forehead of the hills, / And lifted up our hearts in prayer; / And as we halted, reverent, / Meseemed that Nature o’er us bent, / That she did bid us sup / From bread she gave and from her cup. 1893, Norman Gale, “A Walk”, in Orchard Songs, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews & John Lane; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 43:
There I'll sup / Balm and nectar in my cup. 1646, Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
supped
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
supped
Tense=Past
lexicographic
supping
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
sups
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
soup
alternative
lexicographic
sup en · VERB · etymology 2
Pronunciation
/sup/ (abbreviation) of supremum and of words beginning with super-
Etymology tree
Anglo-Norman superbor.
Middle English soupen
English sup
From Middle English soupen, suppen, Anglo-Norman super, from supe, soupe. More at soup.
Meanings
To eat supper.
...I propose we should have up the cold pie, and let him sup. 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup. 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
But here comes the deputy vehicle, cruising right up to the shelter on the bike path. The sup is a retired county sheriff's deputy. 2012, Caroline Court, Rescuing Park Ranger Billie, →ISBN, page 55:
They had put in the stretch-out and they were laying people off and there was talk of a union. "Let's have a union." "Mr. Shaw won't stand for it. The sup won't stand for it." 1932, Edward Livermore Burlingame, Robert Bridges, Alfred Dashiell, Scribner's Magazine - Volume 91, page 64:
Cpl. Perez, the radio sup said, "Everything checks out OK, Sarge. We're up and working." 2011, M. Thomas, Not Today, →ISBN, page 212:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
sups
Number=Plur
lexicographic
supe
alternative
lexicographic
sup en · NOUN · etymology 6
Pronunciation
/sup/ (abbreviation) of supremum and of words beginning with super-
Values for the sup W statistic in excess of the 5 percent critical value (2.75 for booms and 2.77 for slumps) indicate rejection of the null hypothesis of no change in the dureation of booms and slumps in real commodity prices. 2001, Mr. Paul Cashin, Mr. C. John McDermott, The Long-Run Behavior of Commodity Prices, →ISBN:
For a wide class of connected open sets U, not necessarily simply connected, one proves the existence of a harmonic function on U having given boundary value (satisfying suitable integrability conditions) by taking the sup of the subharmonic functions having this boundary value. 2003 -, Serge Lang -, Complex Analysis, →ISBN, page 271: