Emily Dickinson Lexicon

cup (-s), n. [OE < mod. Fr. coupe, drinking-vessel, cup.] (webplay: bell, coffee-cup, companions, drink, glass, little, pass, possible, runneth).

1. Drink; cupful; vessel with strong drink contained in it.
2. Drinking-vessel; small glass; small open container for liquids.
3. Eucharist; sacrament of the Lord's supper; wine taken at the Communion; [allusion to the “bitter cup”] suffering of Christ for all humankind in the garden of Gethsemane (see Luke 22:41-44).
4. Experience; [fig.] suffering; affliction; bitter agony of Christ's atonement (see Luke 22:42).