stoup

plural stoups · alternative stoop · alternative stowp

1. obsoleteA bucket.First known use 14th–20th c.
2. archaicA mug or other drinking vessel.First known use 16th c.

   Fetch me a stoup of liquor.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   2 more examples

   Set me the Stopes of wine vpon that Table.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

   …we ran up stairs together without speaking, and were instantly in the apartment I had left, where a stoup of wine still stood untasted.

   1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford, published 2010, page 57

3. A receptacle for holy water, especially a basin set at the entrance of a church.First known use 16th c.

   She saw nobody for the moment so that she entered the church formally dipping her fingers in the holy water stoup and signing herself.

   1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 810

   2 more examples

   He was seen [...] bathing in the holy water stoup as if he were its single and beholden bird, pushing aside weary French maids and local tradespeople with the impatience of a soul in physical distress.

   1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 26

   But, though I liked Morgan well enough, I did not greatly care for his smell, which, incredibly, considering his agnosticism, was not unlike that of stale water in a church stoup.

   1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers

   Synonyms: font

present singular third person stoups · participle present stouping · participle past stouped · past stouped

1. obsoleteObsolete form of stoop.