Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of there's many a slip twixt cup and lip.
Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra. […] There is many a slip between the cup and the lip.
[1797, Thomas Browne, “Ancaeus”, in A New Classical Dictionary for the Use of Schools, […], London: […] G[eorge] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinson, […]; and E[lizabeth] Newbery, […], →OCLC, signature D, recto, column 12 more examples
That "there is many a slip between the cup and the lip" is a proverb somewhat musty; but it pithily indicates the sudden mutations to which poor humanity is liable.
[1835, [Catharine Sedgwick], chapter XXIX, in The Linwoods; or, “Sixty Years since” in America. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 139There's many a slip between the cup and the lip! Who knows what may happen, Mr. Huxter, or who will sit in Parliament for Clavering next session?
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Mr. and Mrs. Sam. Huxter”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 332
Cite this entry
there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/there's%20many%20a%20slip%20between%20the%20cup%20and%20the%20lip
“there's many a slip between the cup and the lip.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/there's%20many%20a%20slip%20between%20the%20cup%20and%20the%20lip. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “there's many a slip between the cup and the lip,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/there's%20many%20a%20slip%20between%20the%20cup%20and%20the%20lip.
Source: there's many a slip between the cup and the lip on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.