Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CUN'NING-LY, adv.

Artfully; craftily; with subtilty; with fraudulent contrivance. We have not followed cunningly devised fables. 2 Pet. i.

CUN'NING-MAN, n.

A man who pretends to tell fortunes, or teach how to recover stolen or lost goods. – Butler.

CUN'NING-NESS, n.

Cunning; craft; deceitfulness.

CUP, n. [Sax. cop or cupp; D. kop; Dan. id.; Sw. kopp; Fr. coupe; Arm. coupen; It. coppa; Sp. copa; Ir. capa; or capan; W. cwb, cwpan; L. cupa, cuppa, whence cupella, a cupel, a little cup; Ch. כוב kub; Ar. كُوبٌ kubon. Class Gb, No. 48. See also No. 6. The primary sense may be, hollow, bending, Russ. kopayu, or containing; most probably the latter, and allied to L. capio. See No. 50, 52, 68, and Coop.]

1. A small vessel of capacity, used commonly to drink out of. It is usually made of metal; as, a silver cup; a tin cup. But the name is also given to vessels of like shape, used for other purposes. It is usually more deep than wide; but tea-cups and coffee-cups are often exceptions.
2. The contents of a cup; the liquor contained in a cup, or that it may contain; as, a cup of beer. See 1 Cor. xi.
3. In a Scriptural sense, sufferings and afflictions; that which is to be received or endured. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. – Matth. xxvi.
4. Good received; blessings and favors. My cup runneth over. – Ps. xxiii. Take the cup of salvation, that is, receive the blessings of deliverance and redemption with joy and thanksgiving. – Cruden. Brown.
5. Any thing hollow like a cup; as, the cup of an acorn. The bell of a flower, and a calyx is called a flower-cup.
6. A glass cup or vessel used for drawing blood in scarification. Cup and can, familiar companions; the can being the large vessel out of which the cup is filled, and thus the two being constantly associated. – Swift. Cups, in the plural, social entertainment in drinking; merry bout. Thence from cups to civil broils. – Milton.

CUP, v.i.

1. In surgery, to apply a cupping-glass to procure a discharge of blood from a scarified part of the body. Encyc.
2. To supply with cups. [Obs.] – Shak.

CUP'BEAR-ER, n.

An attendant of a prince or at a feast, who conveys wine or other liquors to the guests; an officer of the king's household. – Neh. i.

CUP'BOARD, n. [cup and board.]

Originally, a board or shelf for cups to stand on. In modern houses, a small case or inclosure in a room with shelves destined to receive cups, plates, dishes and the like. – Bacon. Dryden.

CUP'BOARD, v.t.

To collect into a cupboard; to hoard. [Not used.] Shak.

CUP'BOARD-ED, pp.

Deposited in a cupboard.

CU'PEL, n. [L. cupella, a little cup.]

A small cup or vessel used in refining metals. It retains them while in a metallic state, but when changed by fire into a fluid scoria, it absorbs them. Thus when a mixture of lead with gold or silver is heated in a strong fire, the lead is oxydated and vitrified, and sinks into the substance of the cupel, while the gold or silver remains pure. This kind of vessel is made usually of phosphate of lime, or the residue of burnt bones, rammed into a mold, which gives it its figure. – Encyc. Lavoisier. Nicholson.

CU-PEL-LA'TION, n.

The refining of gold or silver by a cupel, or by scorification. – Lavoisier. Nicholson. Encyc.

CUP'GALL, n.

A singular kind of gall found on the leaves of oak, &c. It contains the worm of a small fly. – Encyc.

CU-PID'I-TY, n. [L. cupiditas, from cupidus, from cupio, to desire, to covet. See Class Gb, No. 22, 24.]

An eager desire to possess something; an ardent wishing or longing; inordinate or unlawful desire of wealth or power. It is not used, I believe, for the animal appetite, like lust or concupiscence, but for desire of the mind. No property is secure when it becomes large enough to tempt the cupidity of indigent power. – Burke.

CUP'-MOSS, n.

A vague term for a sort of moss, or some plant called a moss, whether correctly or not is uncertain.

CU'PO-LA, n. [It. cupola; Sp. cupula; from the root of cup, or rather from W. cop, a top or summit.]

In architecture, a spherical vault on the top of an edifice; a dome, or the round top of a dome. Encyc.

CU'PO-LAID, a.

Having a cupola. [Not used.] – Herbert.

CUP'PED, pp.

Bled by means of cupping glasses.

CUP'PER, n. [from cup.]

One who applies a cupping-glass; a scarifier.

CUP'PING, ppr.

Applying a cupping-glass, with scarification; a drawing blood with a cupping-glass.

CUP'PING-GLASS, n.

A glass vessel like a cup, to be applied to the skin, before and after scarification, for drawing blood.

CU'PRE-OUS, a. [L. cupreus, from cuprum, copper.]

Coppery; consisting of copper; resembling copper, or partaking of its qualities. – Encyc. Boyle.

CU-PRIF'ER-OUS, a. [L. cuprum, copper, and fero, to bear.]

Producing or affording copper; as, cupriferous silver. – Tooke. Russ.

CUP'-ROSE, n.

The poppy.

CUP'-SHAP-ED, a.

Shaped like a cup.

CUR, n. [Qu. Lapponic coira; Basque chauirra; Ir. gyr, gaier, a dog.]

A degenerate dog; and in reproach, a worthless man. – Addison. Shak. Dryden.