sup
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sʌp/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ʌp
- Homophone: 'sup
- IPA(key): (abbreviations of words beginning with super-) /sup/
Etymology 1
From Middle English soupen, from Old English sūpan (“to sip, drink, taste”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (compare Dutch zuipen (“to drink, tipple, booze”), German saufen (“to drink, booze”), Swedish supa (“to drink, swallow”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sub-, compare Sanskrit सूप (sū́pa, “soup, broth”), from *sewe (“to take liquid”). More at suck.
Verb
sup (third-person singular simple present sups, present participle supping, simple past and past participle supped)
- To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon.
- 1646, Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple:
- There I'll sup / Balm and nectar in my cup.
-
Noun
sup (plural sups)
- A sip; a small amount of food or drink.
- 1936, George Orwell, chapter 8, in Keep the Aspidistra Flying:
- A long, long sup of beer flowed gratefully down his gullet.
-
Alternative forms
Etymology 2
From Middle English soupen, suppen, Anglo-Norman super, from supe, soupe. More at soup.
Verb
sup (third-person singular simple present sups, present participle supping, simple past and past participle supped)
- To take supper.
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- ...I propose we should have up the cold pie, and let him sup.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
- I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup.
-
Translations
Interjection
sup?
Adjective
sup (not comparable)
- (physics) Being or relating to the squark that is the superpartner of an up quark.
Etymology 5
First syllable of superintendent.
Noun
sup (plural sups)
- (informal) Superintendent.
- 1932, Edward Livermore Burlingame, & Robert Bridges, Alfred Dashiell, Scribner's Magazine - Volume 91, page 64:
- They had put in the stretch-out and they were laying people off and there was talk of a union. "Let's have a union." "Mr. Shaw won't stand for it. The sup won't stand for it."
- 2011, M. Thomas, Not Today, →ISBN, page 212:
- Cpl. Perez, the radio sup said, "Everything checks out OK, Sarge. We're up and working."
- 2012, Caroline Court, Rescuing Park Ranger Billie, →ISBN, page 55:
- But here comes the deputy vehicle, cruising right up to the shelter on the bike path. The sup is a retired county sheriff's deputy.
-
Alternative forms
Etymology 6
First syllable of superior.
Noun
sup (plural sups)
- (mathematics) Supremum, upper limit.
- 2001, Mr. Paul Cashin & Mr. C. John McDermott, The Long-Run Behavior of Commodity Prices, →ISBN:
- Values for the sup W statistic in excess of the 5 percent critical value (2.75 for booms and 2.77 for slumps) indicate rejection of the null hypothesis of no change in the dureation of booms and slumps in real commodity prices.
- 2003 -, Serge Lang -, Complex Analysis, →ISBN, page 271:
- For a wide class of connected open sets U, not necessarily simply connected, one proves the existence of a harmonic function on U having given boundary value (satisfying suitable integrability conditions) by taking the sup of the subharmonic functions having this boundary value.
-
Etymology 7
Clipping of supplement.
Descendants
- → German: Sup
Etymology 8
First syllable of supervision.
Alternative forms
Albanian
Etymology
From Proto-Albanian *tsupa, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱupos (compare English hip, Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos, “vertebra, hollow before the hip (in cattle)”)).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sup/
Czech

Etymology
Inherited from Old Czech sup, from Proto-Slavic *sǫpъ (“vulture”). Cognate with Polish sęp, Lower Sorbian sup, Serbo-Croatian sȕp, and Russian сип (sip).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈsup]
- Rhymes: -up
Declension
Derived terms
Indonesian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈsʊp̚]
- Hyphenation: sup
Noun
sup (first-person possessive supku, second-person possessive supmu, third-person possessive supnya)
Derived terms
- disup
- mengesup
References
- 2007, Soto & Sup Nusantara-Citarasa tradisional, Gramedia Pustaka Utama (→ISBN), page 3.
Further reading
- “sup” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.
Lower Sorbian

Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *sǫpъ (“vulture”). Cognate with Polish sęp, Czech sup, Serbo-Croatian sȕp, and Russian сип (sip).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sup/
Declension
Further reading
- Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “sup”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
- Starosta, Manfred (1999), “sup”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
Nabi
References
- transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66
Serbo-Croatian

Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *sǫpъ.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sûp/
Declension
References
- “sup” in Hrvatski jezični portal
Slovak

Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *sǫpъ.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsup/
Noun
sup m inan (genitive singular supa, nominative plural supy, genitive plural supov, declension pattern of dub)
Usage notes
- The usage of the 2nd declension pattern is limited to fairy tales and children stories.
Declension
Derived terms
Further reading
- sup in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk
Swedish
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ʉːp
Noun
sup c
Usage notes
Small enough to be drunk in one gulp, and typically intended to be. Basically a shot, without the modern connotations. Often had with food.
Declension
Declension of sup | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | sup | supen | supar | suparna |
Genitive | sups | supens | supars | suparnas |