Meanings
- idiomaticDrunk; in the act of consuming alcohol liberally.
[H]ere he gambled, there he drank; and in his cups every virtue dissolved.
1906, E. W. Hornung, chapter 1, in The Shadow of the Rope3 more examples
[T]he natives were an honest, social race of jolly roysterers, who had no objection to a drinking bout, and were very merry in their cups.
1809, Washington Irving, chapter 6, in Knickerbocker's History of New YorkThey grew only the more sober in their cups; there was no confused babble nor boisterous laughter. They sucked in the joyous fire of the decanters and kept it smouldering in their inmost recesses.
1852, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 21, in The Blithedale RomanceThe woman on the other hand is in her cups swigging from one wine glass while another stands at her elbow.
2006 November 17, Margaret Hawkins, “Home Alone: Blackmon photos find solitude among domestic chaos”, in Chicago Sun-Times, page NC50Synonyms: drunk
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveDrunk; in the act of consuming alcohol liberally.
Cite this entry
in one's cups. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20one's%20cups
“in one's cups.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20one's%20cups. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in one's cups,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20one's%20cups.
Source: in one's cups on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.