cup-bearer

plural cup-bearers

1. alternativeAlternative form of cupbearer.

   [P]rosper, I pray thee, thy ſeruant this day, and grant him mercie in the ſight of this man. For I was the kings cup-bearer.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 1:11, column 1

   3 more examples

   [C]alling for Drink, one of the King's Cup-bearers that was accuſtomed to ſerve me, preſented the Cup with a troubled Look, and diſcompoſed Countenance: [...] taking the Cup from his Hands, I was carrying it to my Mouth, when Arſanes enter'd the Chamber, and haſtily running up to me, juſt as I touched the Cup with my Lips, he ruſhed against my Arm ſo rudely, as he made me let fall the Cup, [...]

   1736, [Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède], translated by Robert Loveday, Hymen’s Præludia: Or, Love’s Master-piece. Being that So-much-admir’d Romance, intitled, Cleopatra. […], volume I, London: […] J. Watson, […], →OCLC, part II, book I, page 78

   The cup-bearer shrugged his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he; "but since he is so unsocial to Christians, e'en let him take the next stall to Isaac the Jew's.— [...]"

   1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 101

   Often the guests, affected by the wine drinking, released all inhibitions and made erotic overtures, particularly to the slave cup-bearers.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 230