Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a drunkard.

1834

Lytton Pompeii II Ch. iii: Oh, a friend of mine! a brother cupman, a quiet dog [...] said Burbo.

drunk.

1627		J. Taylor ‘An Armado’ in Works (1869) I 83: When any of them are wounded, pot-shot, jug-bitten or cup-shaken.
1770		Gent.’s Mag. 559: To express the condition of an Honest Fellow, and no Flincher, under the Effects of good Fellowship, it is said that he is [...] 18 Cup-stricken, 19 Cup-sprung.

drunk.

1546		J. Heywood Proverbs I Ch. xi: He was, (as he will be), somewhat cupshotten.
1587		in W. Harrison Description of England 152: It may be that diuers of them liuing at home, with hard and pinching diet, small drinke, and some of them hauing scarce inough of that, are soonest ouertaken when they come vnto such bankets; howbeit they take it generallie as no small disgrace if they happen to be cupshotten.
1639		Fuller Holy War Bk III Ch. xvi: The spring-tide of their mirth so drowned their souls that the Turks coming in upon them cut every one of their throats [...] and quickly they were stabbed with the sword that were cup-shot before [F&H].
1655		Mercurius Fumigosus 47 I8–25 Apr. 375: These cup-shot blades of Bacchus.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn) n.p.: No man ought to call a Good-fellow a Drunkard; but [...] he may without a forfeit say he is [...] cup shot.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1700		‘The Art of Drinking’ in Wit’s Cabinet 138: He is flaw’d, fluster’d, Cup-shot.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
c.1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. n.p.: Cup-shot, very drunk.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 104/1: Cup-hot [sic], very drunk.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 313/2: cup shot, [...] ivre.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 21: Cupshot, drunk.

(UK Und.) drunk.

c.1850

Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

see drop of the creature under creature, the n.

describing someone who remains silent in company.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1790		M.P. Andrews Better Late than Never 10: I was sadly ’fraid it would make you melancholy; and they tell me you’re already a cup too low.

great friends.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: As great as Cup and Cann; or as great as two Inkle-makers.
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 88: Miss, I hear that you and Lady Couplers, are as great as Cup, and Can.

1. (N.Z. prison) a pair of close friends.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 50/1: cup and saucer n. 1 two inmates who are very good friends and spend much of their time together.

2. see cup and saucer

(N.Z. prison) a short sentence.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 50/1: cup of tea n. 1 a short prison sentence, specifically three months in length [...] cup and saucer n. a short sentence.

1. a juggler.

1868

Brewer Dict. of Phrase and Fable.

2. a fortune-teller who uses tea leaves (occas. coffee grounds) as a medium of prediction.

1846		Sydney Morn. Herald 29 Dec. 1/4: [advert] Specimen plates of the Society's Prize, [...] ‘The Blind Girl at the Holy Well,’ and ‘Cup Tossing,’ may be seen, and every information obtained, at W.A. Coleman’s Book and Stationery warehouse.
1849		Sth Aus. Register (Adelaide) 19 Sept. 2/5: ‘The most jury-packing, road-jobbing, paper-reading, buckeen-breeding, sea-bathing, car driving, cockle-eating, cup-tossing, tea-and-whisky drinking, ribbon-lodging, orange-lodging, fighting, shouting, landlord-hooting, pig-jobbingest, potato-lovingest, good-for-nothingest nation on the face of the universal globe’.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1877		Freeman’s Jrnl (Sydney) 18 Aug. 4/2: ‘Bad cess to the thief! that a cup-tosser tould him he'd die of stoppage of breath’.
1887		Kilmore Free Press (Vic.) 20 Jan. 1/5: His aunt Oonnagh the cup tossed, shouted ‘Caubeen, ye fool, don’t be a gommock, and part with your stick, for you’ll require it before divel a long’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 21: Cup Tosser, one who tells fortunes from the grounds in tea-cups, etc.
1928		L. Mackay My Oul’ Town 72: Sure, everybody knows what takes the lasses to star-gazers, cup-tossers, an’ the like; it’s just to know if they will get husbands!
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.