Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: In one's cups

Good buddy Dani Greer directed my attention to the phrase in his cups, and once my focus settled there, it wouldn't go away... at least not without a little digging!

We all know what the term in his (or her or their) cups means, right? The definition is drunk or intoxicated.

Ah, but that's not all!

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
According to the Word Detective, it can also mean to simply be imbibing. Only WD explains this much more engagingly:

There are actually two meanings to the phrase “in his cups” (which can be rendered, of course, just as well with “her,” “their,” or, in case one encounters a drunken robot, “its”). “In one’s cups” can mean inebriated (i.e., drunk as a skunk), but it can also mean merely to be engaged in drinking alcoholic beverages, an endeavor which will not necessarily culminate in drooling on parking meters. This sense appears a bit earlier than the “stinking drunk” sense.

The post also notes that the idiom first appeared in printed form in 1611, in the King James Version of the Bible (“And when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren”).

WD also mentions the book Drunk: The Definitive Drinker’s Dictionary by Paul Dickson (Hmmm.... Guess what book I plan to add to my library?? You guessed it!)

The Online Etymological Dictionary adds a little bit of additional etymological history:

To be in one's cups "intoxicated" is from 1610s (Middle English had cup-shoten "drunk, drunken," mid-14c.).

So, there you go! Feel free to raise a cup (or glass or some other container) of your favorite beverage along with me, even if it isn't alcoholic in nature, to celebrate knowing more about the phrase in one's cups.


via GIPHY
In one's cups? I think the more appropriate term for this illustration might be getting potted...